The Barbarian Club was formed by
William Percy Carpmael, who had played rugby for
Cambridge University, and had been part of the Cambridge team which had undertaken a tour of Yorkshire in 1884. Inspired by the culture behind short rugby tours he organised his first tour in 1889 with
Clapham Rovers, At the time practically every club ceased playing in early March; there were no tours and players just 'packed up' until the following season. In 1890 he took the Southern Nomads – mainly composed of players from
Blackheath – on a tour of some northern counties of England. His idea – collecting a touring side from all sources to tackle a few leading clubs in the land – received strong support from leading players, particularly ex-university players. On 8 April 1890, in Leuchters Restaurant and later at the Alexandra Hotel in
Bradford, the concept of the Barbarians was agreed upon. The team toured later that year and beat
Hartlepool Rovers 9–4 on 27 December in their first fixture. The team was given the motto by
Walter Julius Carey, former Bishop of Bloemfontein and a former member of the Barbarians:
Penarth 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. The annual
Good Friday game against the Barbarians was the highlight of the
Penarth club's year and was always attended by enthusiastic capacity crowds. This fixture marked the start of the Baa-Baas' annual South Wales tour from their "spiritual home" of Penarth, which also included playing
Cardiff RFC on the Saturday,
Swansea RFC on Easter Monday and
Newport RFC on the Tuesday. The non-match day of Easter Sunday would always see the Barbarians playing golf at the
Glamorganshire Golf Club, in Penarth, while the former Esplanade Hotel, which was located on the seafront at Penarth, would host the gala party for the trip, sponsored by Penarth RFC. The first match took place in 1901, It was a game of attack and counterattack, and the Barbarians won the match 23–11, handing the All Blacks their fourth defeat of the tour. Gareth Edwards scored a try widely considered to be one of the best ever in rugby union.
Cliff Morgan described Gareth Edwards' try: Gareth Edwards said of the match:
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. Most of these regular matches have fallen by the wayside, whilst others continue to the present day: •
27 December game against Leicester Tigers – this began in 1909 as the third and final match of the Christmas Tour. It was played for the last time as a regular fixture in March 2006 but returned in November 2014 when the Barbarians beat Leicester 59–26 in their 125th anniversary season. •
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. Since then, the invited opposition has been a British Army side instead of the Barbarians. •
Easter Tour – traditionally four matches against
Penarth RFC (
Good Friday),
Cardiff RFC/
Cardiff Blues (
Holy Saturday);
Swansea RFC (
Easter Monday) and
Newport RFC (Tuesday following
Easter Monday). The Penarth match was dropped after 1986 as a regular fixture although in 2001 a special commemorative game, recognising 100 years since the first Good Friday match, was played at the Athletic Field next to the Penarth clubhouse the day before the Barbarians played Wales at the
Millennium Stadium. The game against Newport was moved away from Easter after the 1982 fixture due to problems fielding a team for the fourth match of the tour and was played as a midweek game early in the season from September 1982 onwards. The Barbarians last played Newport in November 1996. •
The Final Challenge – played as the last match in a tour of the UK by Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Initially played every three years, these games have become more frequent in the professional era. The fixture on 3 December 2008 between the Barbarians and Australia was played at
Wembley Stadium, the first rugby union match played there since its redevelopment. •
Remembrance Day game against the Combined Services, played in November. The fixture was first played in 1997 and the most recent game, in 2014, resulted in a 31–15 win for the Barbarians. They typically compete against teams from the
home nations (
England,
Wales,
Scotland and
Ireland) as well as other international sides. Other matches are played against club teams, often to celebrate anniversaries. The 2014–15 fixture list included matches against
Leicester Tigers and
Heriot's Rugby Club in addition to the Final Challenge game with Australia and the annual Combined Services match. The Heriot's game celebrated the 125th anniversary of both that club and the Barbarians, while the Leicester game was also part of the Barbarians' 125th anniversary schedule. The Barbarians were also invited to play in the first ever Rugby match at the London Olympic Stadium in 2015 against Samoa.
Olympic rugby union centenary celebration match Australia was approached by the British Olympic Association to play the Barbarians at
Wembley Stadium on 3 December 2008. The match formed part of the BOA's programme of events to celebrate the centenary of the first
London Olympic Games where Australia defeated a
Great Britain (
Cornwall) side in the final 32–3. In 1908 France were the defending Olympic champions, but when they withdrew from the event, leaving just Australia and Great Britain to contest the gold medal, it was then County champions Cornwall who took to the field to represent the host nation. Cornwall had already been defeated in Australia's earlier 31-match tour. Cornwall's 1908 contribution was also further recognised by the presentation of the Cornwall Cup to the winning 2008 captain at Wembley, with the players of the respective sides receiving gold or silver commemorative medals. The 2008 game was the first rugby union fixture to take place in the new Wembley Stadium. Australia went on to win 18 points to 11. In a change to the tradition of the Barbarians players wearing their own club socks, in this game, they all wore Cornwall's black and gold socks. The break with the tradition was highly regarded by the secretary of the Cornwall Rugby Football Union, Alan Mitchell, who was said to have been humbled by the honour. ==Women's Barbarians==