In 1875, rugby was introduced to South Africa by British soldiers garrisoned in Cape Town. The game spread quickly across the country, displacing Winchester College football as the sport of choice in South Africa and spreading to nearby Zimbabwe. South African settlers also brought the game with them to Namibia and competed against British administrators in British East Africa. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the sport in Africa was spread by settlers and colonials who often adopted a "whites-only" policy to playing the game. This resulted in rugby being viewed as a bourgeois sport by the indigenous people with limited appeal. Despite this enclaves of black participation developed notably in the Eastern Cape and in Harare. The earliest countries to see the playing of competitive rugby include South Africa, and neighbouring Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe), which formed the Rhodesia Rugby Football Union in 1895 and became a regular stop for touring British and New Zealand sides.
