Richard Osborne (1848-1926) was a rugby union international who represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the first international in 1871.

Early life

Richard Osborne was born on 20 May 1848 in

Middleham Middleham ( ; meaning "middle ''ham''", i.e. "middle village") is a market town and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream fr ...

, Yorkshire.

Rugby union career

Osborne made his international debut on 27 March 1871 at

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

match, the first international. He was one of four players from the Manchester Football Club. It was reported that in this match Osborne made an extraordinary charge at Finlay of Scotland. Osborne. Finlay had got well away with the ball, and was sprinting towards the English goal, when Osborne, "''folding his arms across his chest, ran full tilt at him, after the fashion of a bull charging a gate. Both were very big, heavy men, and the crash of the collision was tremendous, each reeling some yards, and finally falling on his back. For a few seconds players and spectators alike held their breath, fearing terrible results, but the two giants promptly resumed their places, apparently none the worse.''"Francis Marshall, ''Football, The Rugby Union Game'', pp. 141–143, 1892 (Cassell: London) Osborne became the 1st Captain of the

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...

Club who formed in August 1871. Rochdale Hornets would later be one of the founding members of the Northern Union which would become the Rugby Football League.

References

1848 births 1926 deaths England international rugby union players English rugby union players People from Middleham Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from North Yorkshire Manchester Rugby Club players {{England-rugbyunion-bio-1840s-stub