History of Rugby

By: Anna Ellertson

When and who was it founded by?

Rugby was created in 1823 by William Webb Ellis when he played football in high school and caught the ball taking it all the way to the end zone, scoring a goal. The sport got its name after the school it was first played in: Rugby School. Rugby is most common in England, but is also very popular in South AFrica, Australia, and the United States. However, it is played worldwide.

Rugby Union vs. Rugby League

Rugby Union:
infrequently played amateurs with the original set of rules one of worlds most played games gets televised often most points from penalties ball gets stopped often

Rugby League:

most commonly known as rugby only 13 players per team professionals with a simplified set of rules only televised if nothing else is on most points from tries ball always in motion

Rugby Rules

Depending on whether you play Rugby Union or Rugby league determines the type of rules you use during play, but here are the most basic ones:
about 15 players on each team 8 forwards and 7 backs you can only pass the ball to a teammate in a backwards motion in order to score you must get the ball to your opponents side of the field and touch it to the ground. This is called a try and it is worth 5 points. after a try, the team that did not score kicks the ball to their opponents the team kicking the ball must kick it past the half field mark if the ball goes out of bounds then the play is restarted using a lineout during a lineout, the defensive players must remain 10 meters in front of the offensive players if a forward pass has occurred, then there is a turnover and a foot feed for the new offensive team

How to Play:

Interesting Facts:

The first ever rugby balls were made by a Richard Lindon who fashioned it out of hand stitched leather casing and pigs' bladders which naturally take on an oval shape. The first rugby rules were drafted in 1845. New Zealand's Rugby team is the most famous and successful rugby team in the world, and are called The All Blacks. Before every match they perform an aka which is a maori war dance usually only performed by tribes and cultural groups across their country. Despite 'The All Blacks' being widely considered to be the greatest Rugby team, USA's team are still the reigning Olympic Rugby champs. This is because they were the last team to win in 1924 after which the sport was discontinued at an Olympic level. Unlike almost any other sport in the world, not a single team who's won the Rugby world cup one year has managed to win it again the next time. Basketball was actually created by a rugby coach who wanted some form of indoor sporting activity to keep his players conditioned when it was off-season. Tries are unique to the game of rugby. It is called so because originally, a player wouldn't receive any points for crossing the line but they did gain the opportunity to try and kick at the goal. The player who has scored the most amount of these tries is Daisuke Ohata of Japan. He has scored 69 tries in 58 matches. Rugby was introduced to the Japanese in 1830 by a Cambridge University instructor who taught the sport as an extracurricular activity. South Africa is now one of the leading nations in this sport. It was actually introduced to them by the British troops who were stationed in Cape Town. The first ever Rugby game took place between Scotland and England, and Scotland won. The International Rugby Board (IRB) is the highest governing body in the Rugby Union and was formed back in 1886. There are 97 member unions in the IRB.

Bibliography:
"Ten Facts About Rugby." (sport). N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. "Comparison of Rugby League and Rugby Union." 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. "Rugby Game." N.p., n.d. Web. "How to Play Rugby: A Guide on the Basic Rules." Yahoo Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.

"10 Things You Never Knew About: Rugby." Www.mensxp.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.