Rugby as Played in 1869 at Rugby School, Oxford

Question
QUESTION: I was researching my alma mater's football team in New Jersey, USA.  An old newspaper article from the fall of 1869 said a local group of kids played a football game and that in the explanation, the type of game was what was being played at "Rugby, Oxford and the universities of Germany."  They also mentioned the style of play was explained in Tom Hughes sequel to Tom Brown's School Days, the book entitled "Tom Brown at Rugby."

Could you explain the type of game this would have been in 1869?  Would they have been running with the ball? tackling? throwing or passing? kicking over a cross-bar, registering a try or touch down?  What would be the nature of such a game with the hints provided?  Thanks for any light you can shed on this.

ANSWER: The rules during these times are pretty vague and varied from country to country as there was no real rugby body policing the rules, so the rules in oxford would have been a little different in Germany. In NZ the rules were adapted to suit the kiwis. I found a couple of sites that may help you, but Im sure you have already investigated them.
Ill ask around and get back to you.

http://www.pgrfc.co.uk/history.asp
http://www.11v11.com/index.php?pageID=469
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_football_club

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the enlightenment and the promptness of the response.  I have just one more follow up.  If you threw the ball around instead of kicking it, would that have been "The Combination Game?"  And would that have been a part of Association, Rugby or a blend of those two or something completely different?  According to wikipedia, it appears the combination game was some sort of offshoot of the Association game.  But since the Association game has always been a kicking game, it seems to make sense that such an offshoot would be attached to rugby?  Any info on "throwing" football games?

Answer
Here is a link to some rules from the 1800's http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/resources/Rugby%20School%20Laws%201845.pdf

Yes your right about the combination game, but the combination was passing and catching not kicking and passing. I spoke to an old rugby nut and he said that when the ball was picked up during a game of soccer (football)in the very first game of rugby it was more out of frustration rather than wanting to start a new type of sport. they experimented with a few laws like passing but it was passed in any direction. so the first laws were similar to soccer and then they adapted it to suit rugby.
He says that there was a number of combinations that they tried and rugby league took some of those variations when that code started.

The throwing football game didn't really make a huge in road until the late 1800's early 1900's when a number of players started using longer passes. Remember that the ball in those days was very heavy...hence the short passes. The ball was a soccer ball for a number of years and only changed when the sport started growing.

Hope that helps.