Barbarian F.C. - Traditional Matches

Traditional Matches

The nature of the Barbarians as a touring side made for a diverse fixture list, but at a number of points in the club's history they have settled for a time into a regular pattern. Some of these regular matches have fallen by the wayside, whilst others continue to the present day:

  • Boxing Day fixture against Leicester Tigers – this began in 1909 as the third and final match of the Christmas Tour. No longer played.
  • The Edgar Mobbs Memorial Match – held for Edgar Mobbs, who was killed in The First World War. Played at Franklins Gardens against Northampton Saints, Bedford Blues or The East Midlands select XV. The first took place on 10 February 1921, and in later years became a tradition on the first Thursday in March. The last Mobbs Match to feature the Barbarians took place in April 2011. The fixture will continue, but the invited opposition in the future will be a British Army side instead of the Barbarians.
  • Easter Tour – traditionally four matches against Penarth RFC (Good Friday), Cardiff RFC/Cardiff Blues (Easter Saturday); Swansea RFC (Easter Monday) and Newport RFC (Tuesday following Easter Monday). The Penarth match was dropped after the 1986 match as a regular fixture although in 2001 a special commemorative game, recognising the 100 years since the first Good Friday match, took place in 2001 and was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
  • The Final Challenge — played as the last match in a tour of the UK by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Because of the changes in the game in recent years, long tours have effectively disappeared from the game and there is less scope for this challenge. The fixture returned on 3 December 2008 when the Barbarians played Australia at Wembley Stadium, the first rugby union match to be played there since its redevelopment.
  • Remembrance Day game against the Combined Services, played in early November.

They typically compete against teams from the home nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland) as well as other international sides.

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