The award-winning World Rugby Museum at Twickenham Stadium has moved to a new home in the South Stand and will reopen in time for the 2018 NatWest 6 Nations Championship.
The World Rugby Museum is the definitive home for everything and anything about rugby. Featuring more than three times as many objects, the new museum will display memorabilia from around the world and from all eras, making it a must visit for all rugby fans.
While the museum is currently closed, Twickenham Stadium Tours and ‘From the Vaults’ online blog are continuing. Anyone who has completed a Stadium Tour since the museum closed in February will get free entry to visit the new museum when it re-opens in the new year.
The new location presented an opportunity for the museum to improve its content and modernise its interpretive methods.
Phil McGowan, museum curator, said: “The cutting edge new museum will be bigger, better, brighter and more interactive than ever before. It will house the world’s most prestigious collection of rugby memorabilia. This will include commentary, film and match-footage from the most iconic moments, memorable tours and greatest players in the history of what is the world’s most dramatic team sport.
“It will also include purpose-built events, education and research facilities and invite visitors to engage in the game with exciting hands-on interactive exhibits.”
The museum began life as the ‘Museum of Rugby’ in 1996 before rebranding as the World Rugby Museum in 2008. The new museum has been designed in partnership with Mather & Co.
Its collection – that includes the RFU and Harry Langton rugby collections – has increased significantly since 1996, and the move represents an opportunity to become more object focused and better tell the true story of rugby from around the world. Its interactive galleries will encourage participation at all levels of the game and give younger visitors the opportunity to find out ‘What Kind of Rugby Player’ they are.
Early estimations are that the new gallery will feature more than three times as many objects as it did in its previous East Stand location, covering iconic teams, such as the 1924 New Zealand side, the 1900s Wales teams, the 1971 and 1974 British and Irish Lions sides, as well as the 2003 England team.
