Rugby's Global Game Begins: New Zealand Takes Stage

Sixteen nations showed up to play a sport that only half of them truly understood. On May 22, 1987, New Zealand defeated Italy 70-6 in the opening match of the inaugural Rugby World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland, and the sport's transformation from gentlemen's amateur pastime to global professional spectacle began. Rugby union had resisted organized international competition for over a century. The Home Nations Championship (later the Five and then Six Nations) existed, but the idea of a World Cup was anathema to the sport's amateur establishment. Australia and New Zealand pushed the concept through the International Rugby Football Board over fierce opposition from England and the other British unions, who feared professionalism would follow. The tournament format was straightforward: 16 teams in four pools, knockout rounds, and a final. New Zealand hosted alongside Australia. The quality gap was enormous. New Zealand demolished their pool opponents, and the All Blacks met France in the final at Eden Park on June 20. New Zealand won 29-9, with tries from David Kirk, Michael Jones, and John Kirwan, and the Webb Ellis Cup was theirs. The tournament drew modest television audiences by soccer's standards but proved the commercial viability of international rugby. Sponsorship revenue exceeded expectations, and the success of the event began the slow, inevitable march toward professionalism that arrived officially in 1995. Rugby World Cup has since grown into the third-largest sporting event in the world by viewership, behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. The amateur ethos that resisted it for a century is now ancient history.