What is Rugby?

Rugby Football is the name of a collection of sports that include Rugby Union, Rugby League and Rugby Sevens. At one point in time American Football and Canadian Football were considered forms of Rugby Football.

History of Rugby

Rugby evolved from medieval football. Many types of football were played before the 19th century that were played with both feet and hands. Running with the ball in hands became popular at Rugby School and they decided to write a code of rules for what later became Rugby Football.

In a similar fashion playing with the feet became popular at the University of Cambridge and they published a set of rules of what later became Association Football, known in the US and Canada as Soccer and in the rest of the world simply as Football.

Types of Rugby

In 1895 there was a split in Rugby Football and two rugby football administrations were organizing their own competitions. Eventually rules of each changed and became Rugby Union and Rugby League sports. There’s also a variant of Rugby Union known as Rugby Sevens with only seven players per team. This is the type of Rugby that is played at the Olympics.

How do you play Rugby?

It’s played with an oval ball. Players can run with the ball, pass it or kick it. Forward pass is forbidden. There are 13 players per team in Rugby League and 15 in Rugby Union. It is played in two halves of 40 minutes.

The objective is to take the ball to the end zone to score a try which is worth 5 points in Rugby Union and 4 points in Rugby League. After a try the scoring team can kick the ball in between the goal posts for an additional 2 points. The team with more points at the end of the game wins.