The IRB Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Rugby Board (IRB) that recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The IRB Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals. The Hall of Fame recognises the history and important contributions to the game, through one or more induction ceremonies that have been held annually except in 2010.
The IRB Hall of Fame was introduced during the 2006 IRB Awards ceremony in Glasgow, Scotland. The inaugural inductees were William Webb Ellis, who apocryphally caught the ball during a football game and ran with it, and Rugby School, which has left a huge legacy with the game in a number of ways. IRB Chairman, Dr Syd Millar, said “To commemorate the establishment of the IRB Hall of Fame and to recognise the proud history and traditions of the Game, including its origins, William Webb Ellis and Rugby School were enrolled into the IRB Hall of Fame,” added Dr Millar.
The second induction to the IRB Hall of Fame took place in Paris on October 21, 2007, the night after the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final. The next induction was in London on November 23, 2008.
The third induction, in which nine figures entered the Hall, was held on October 27, 2009 at Rugby School. The voting process for the class of 2009 was geared toward the history of British and Irish Lions tours to South Africa, the most recent of which took place in that year; all of the candidates were either Lions or Springboks.
For 2011, induction ceremonies were held at various locations around the world, with the year's final ceremony taking place as part of the 2011 IRB Awards on 24 October in Auckland, the day after the Rugby World Cup Final in that city. The inductions at the Auckland ceremony, according to the IRB, were "under the theme of Rugby World Cup founders, visionaries and iconic figures," and were made in three groups—first for the founders of the RWC, then all World Cup-winning captains and coaches through the 2007 World Cup (minus John Eales, inducted in 2007), and finally other iconic players of the World Cup.
The pattern begun in 2011 was repeated in 2012, with six induction ceremonies being held in six different countries. As in the two previous induction cycles, the 2012 inductions had an overriding theme. This year, it was "Rugby - a global Game"; according to the IRB, it "celebrates Rugby’s expansion to become a global sport played by millions of men and women worldwide."
Famous quotes containing the words hall and/or fame:
“This is a Senate of equals, of men of individual honor and personal character, and of absolute independence. We know no masters, we acknowledge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of champions.”
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852)
“But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)