rugby s original brand type privately held company industry sports equipment rugby union equipment founded 1823 1823 1 founder william gilbert rugby headquarters robertsbridge united kingdom area served worldwide products rugby clothing including rugby shirt rugby shorts rugby socks compression garment body armour shoulder pads head guards scrum cap mouthguard rugby boots rugby union equipment luggage sport equipments and other athletic and recreational products website www.gilbertrugby.com gilbert is a sports equipment manufacturing brand specialising in rugby union and netball . contents 1 history 2 sponsorships 2.1 rugby sevens 2.2 rugby union 2.2.1 players 2.3 netball 3 references 4 external links history edit parts of this article those related to match xv need to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . may 2016 the company was established by william gilbert a cobbler in 1823 who along with his nephew james developed footballs for the neighbouring rugby school . in 2002 after experiencing financial difficulties following a management buyout gilbert was purchased by grays international . 2 gilbert have supplied an unprecedented 6 rugby world cups in a row ; 3 4 starting with in 1995 in south africa ; wales in 1999 ; australia in 2003 ; france in 2007 ; new zealand in 2011 and england in 2015 . gilbert was the official ball supplier of the rugby world cup 2015 5 6 7 and is the current long standing official rugby ball of england wales scotland australia south africa france italy argentina and the international federation of netball associations . 8 gilbert is also the official ball supplier of the anz championship the biggest netball competition in the world and also the official supplier of the netball world championships . their products include the gilbert synergie rugby ball . in september 2014 gilbert rugby launched the match xv 9 match ball . the match xv ball has been developed specifically for rugby world cup 2015 in england . the match xv match ball will be used throughout the aviva premiership english premiership rugby union top 14 and by all gilbert sponsored national unions in the test matches in november 2015 . sponsorships edit the following teams associations and players wear uniforms and equipment provided by gilbert rugby sevens edit chile rugby union edit newcastle falcons newport gwent dragons newport rfc players edit richard hibbard thierry dusautoir sean cronin jean de villiers jake ball aaron shingler blair cowan matt gilbert netball edit australia new zealand jamaica references edit grays of cambridge international ltd. gilbert rugby history rugby s original brand . gilbertrugby.com . batmaker gets balls as james gilbert is rescued . scrum.com . september 15 2002 . retrieved 2008 10 16 . ashdown john 2015 09 05 . rugby world cup 2015 what you need to know . the guardian . issn 0261 3077 . retrieved 2016 04 11 . rwc 15 a history of the world cup match ball . the irish times . retrieved 2016 04 11 . how gilbert plans to keep england on the ball . london the times . october 20 2003 . retrieved 2009 02 24 . gilbert to supply official match ball for rwc 07 . rugby football union . january 9 2006 . retrieved 2009 02 24 . gilbert to supply balls for rwc 2011 and 2015 . international rugby board . 5 november 2009 . retrieved 2011 10 09 . gilbert official ball supplier . international federation of netball associations . july 19 2006 . retrieved 2009 02 24 . innovative rugby world cup 2015 match xv ball launched . east sussex gilbert rugby . august 29 2014 . retrieved 2014 08 29 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to gilbert company . official website gilbert netball website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gilbert sports equipment & oldid 733212599 categories sporting goods manufacturers of the united kingdomsportswear brandscompanies established in 18231823 establishments in englandhidden categories wikipedia articles in need of updating from may 2016all wikipedia articles in need of updatingcommons category without a link on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages espa olfran aispolski edit links this page was last modified on 6 august 2016 at 06 18 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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