Rugby

Rugby cards, similar to cricket and soccer issues, are more commonly found in international sets. For that reason, not many cards from the sport are part of sets that were listed in the American Card Catalog.

Rugby can be called several different names on these cards. While sometimes called rugby, the sport is also called football or Australian football at times. The Australian football name is often used in sets that also include what Americans know as soccer. That type of football (soccer) is often called Association football.

While the sport may not be terribly popular here, collectors do tend to pursue rugby cards because of the similarity in images to American football. In fact, it can often be difficult to distinguish early American football cards from rugby cards because the earliest American football was larger, similar to a rugby ball. If the sport is not identified on the card, one way to categorize them is to consider American cards as American football issues and international cards as rugby issues (though, admittedly, that is not foolproof).

Below are known sets or rugby cards thus far, though others certainly exist. New sets as they are discovered will be added here. Only sets entirely consisting or rugby cards or largely are presented below.

Sets


1935 Churchman’s
Rugby Internationals

1900 Clarke’s
Football Terms

1924 F&J Smith’s
Prominent Rugby Players

1936 Nestle Rugby Stamps

1937 Nestle Rugby Stamps

1926 Ogden’s
Famous Rugby Players

1930s Palmin Hockey and Rugby

1927 Player’s Football Caricatures
By Mac

1926 Player’s Football Caricatures
By Rip
N463 Sports Girls
Sports Girls (C190/N463)

1930 Wills British Rugby Players

1929 Wills Rugby Internationals

Follow Pre-War Cards on Twitter and also be sure to like our page on Facebook.