The Barbarian Football Club , known as the Barbarians , is a British -based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. As of , players from 31 countries had played for them.
Until rugby union became a professional sport, the Barbarians usually played six annual matches: with Penarth , Cardiff , Swansea and Newport at Easter ; a game with Leicester on 27 December and the Mobbs Memorial Match against East Midlands in the spring. Although initially designed as a fundraiser towards the end of the tour, the encounter became a popular and traditional fixture.
Initially played every three years, it has become more frequent in the professional era, with the Barbarians now often playing one of the national teams visiting Britain each autumn. Many rugby clubs around the world are based on the Barbarians model of an invitational scratch team , including the French Barbarians , Australian Barbarians , New Zealand Barbarians and South African Barbarians.
The Barbarian Club was formed by William Percy Carpmael , who had played rugby for Cambridge University , [ 8 ] and had been part of the Cambridge team which had undertaken a tour of Yorkshire in In he took the Southern Nomads β mainly composed of players from Blackheath β on a tour of some northern counties of England. His idea β collecting a touring side from all sources to tackle a few leading clubs in the land β received strong support from leading players, particularly ex-university players.
The team was given the motto by Walter Julius Carey , former Bishop of Bloemfontein and a former member of the Barbarians:. Rugby Football is a game for gentlemen in all classes, but for no bad sportsman in any class [ 13 ] [ 14 ]. The concept took hold over the years and the nearest thing to a club home came to be the Esplanade Hotel at Penarth in South Wales , where the Barbarians always stayed on their Easter tours of Wales.
