It is an oft-quoted “fact” that Rugby Union Football has its origins at Rugby School where, in 1823, William Webb-Ellis picked up the football and ran with it. There is now, however, a growing body of evidence that is leading scholars to suggest that the event actually occurred in Sandbach, Cheshire, some 7 years earlier.

The assertion is that the famous Saxon crosses, thought to date back to the ninth century but removed by the puritans in the 17th century, were returned to their current site in 1816 and used in the revival of a game known as “Sandbach foot ball”. Very little is known about the game but a few fragments have filtered down the years:

• The object was to transport a small ovoid leather sack, filled with sawdust, from the church door to the crosses. It then had to be kicked over the wooden cross-bar that was slung between them.

• At first sight, as the distance between the two “ends” was only a hundred yards, this does not seem to be too hard a proposition. Matters were complicated, however, by all those present being split into two “sides” in ratio of 2:1. If, for example, 30 men were present, the twenty largest would make up the “spoilers” whilst the ten fleetest of foot would be the “scudders”. It was the job of the spoilers, by any means, to stop the scudders achieving their goal.

• Some versions have it that the crossbar’s demise came when it was used to form the centre-pole of the town’s famous Guy Fawkes’s night bonfire in the mid 1820s.

• It is suggested that only four games were played each year and, whilst most sources indicate that the matches corresponded with the quarter days, there is one theory that the church warden, Mr. J. S. Tubbs, objected to the damage that the melees caused to church land and, consequently, limited the occasions upon which permission was given.

• Before the revival, there is a reference in the town’s history that many believe refers to one of the first ever international matches. In1651 a Scottish side, on its way home from an unsuccessful West Country tour (known to some as The Battle of Worcester), broke the journey at Sandbach and a challenge match was soon arranged. It seems that the ball and the object of the game were swiftly forgotten and the confrontation spilled out to an area that, to this day, is known as “Scotch Common”. It is written that “the dispute was very hot for two or three houres, and there were some townsmen hurt and two or three slaine, the townesmen slew about nine or ten Scotsmen.”

• The common was also, in those days, used for one of the earlier forms of cricket. One chronicler, Robin of Astley, has it that the townsmen formed up upon the left or “on side” (when viewed from the church) whilst the Scots were, to a man, upon the “off side”. Others report that Astley, whilst too venerable to join the fray himself, was amongst the most vociferous of onlookers. One witness wrote that he [Astley] “...spent hour ‘pon hour offering advice to those combatants that were in need of it; but even longer providing the same to those that were not!”

• There is only one mention of a prize being awarded. In 1652, a silver salver was donated by the Oldfield family, lords of the neighbouring manor of Bradwall, in memory of their youngest son who is said to have been one of the slain townsmen referred to above. The plate was presented by the town’s Mayor and respected vintner, Mr Robert G. Reece. The victors paraded their spoils around the town until they called at the newly-opened Black Bear Inn for a spot of supper. It was never seen again! The Oldfields offered a reward of one guinea for the safe return of the plate but it was never claimed. There is an unsubstantiated local story that the reward was offered sine die and that, consequently, the responsibility for it has been passed on by covenant down the centuries to the current owners of the Bradwall estate. Should the plate turn up today the reward, if calculated as a share of GDP, could be worth as much as £28,000. More realistically, as a more equitable calculation would be based upon average earnings, the lucky finder would probably receive around £5,000. For identification, the wording upon the salver “Live thou for England; we for England died” is reported to reflect the dying words of the aforementioned Master Oldfield. The same words are now inscribed upon the town’s war memorial.

Researchers from the University of Chester are seeking funding to properly evaluate the historical evidence and there is also a rumour that Channel 4 is interested in producing an informed documentary.

C.F.B. Dixon 01/04/2015