27 August 1995: Rugby Union turns professional

On this day in 1995, 25 years ago, the International Rugby Board agreed to bring the era of amateur rugby to an end.

Handre Pollard of South Africa © David Ramos - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images
South Africa's Handre Pollard is the game's highest-paid player
(Image credit: © David Ramos - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)

Rugby, as everybody knows, is a game played by gentlemen and ladies too. But it wasn't always. That's if we take the slightly old-fashioned meaning of “gentlemen” to mean the public-school educated. Since the inception of the Rugby Football Union (RFU England's rugby governing body) in 1871, rugby was tremendously popular with the working classes in northern England, particularly in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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