Today, David Ellis is a highly-respected rugby coach that’s made a name for himself while working with some of the best teams in England and France.
Unlike many rugby professionals who first got recognized while still young, it didn’t quite play out like this for Ellis. And this was despite him being more destined for it than most. Indeed, if we trace David Ellis’s bloodline back just a few generations, we arrive at a name that’s practically synonymous with rugby folklore: William Webb Ellis.
For the uninitiated, William Webb Ellis is, in some circles, credited with inventing the game of rugby itself. The rumor goes that, while playing for Rugby School (one of the oldest independent schools in Britain), William Webb Ellis carried the ball forwards during a game, charging headfirst into the opposing players. This move, at the time, was outside of the rules of the football game they were playing.
