Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union or more often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
Rugby union is a popular sport around the world, played by people regardless of gender, age or size.[3] In 2023, there were more than 10 million people playing worldwide, of whom 8.4 million were registered players. World Rugby, previously called the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) and the International Rugby Board (IRB), has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886, and currently has 116 countries as full members and 18 associate members.
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In 1845, the first laws were written by students attending Rugby School; other significant events in the early development of rugby include the decision by Blackheath F.C. to leave The Football Association in 1863 and, in 1895, the split between rugby union and rugby league. Historically rugby union was an amateur sport, but in 1995 formal restrictions on payments to players were removed, making the game openly professional at the highest level for the first time.[4]
Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, with other early exponents of the sport including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. The sport is followed primarily in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Georgia, Oceania, Southern Africa, Argentina, and in recent times also, Italy, Japan, South America, the United States, Canada and Eastern Europe.,[5][6][7] its growth occurring during the expansion of the British Empire and through French proponents (Rugby Europe) in Europe. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar,[8] New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, and Wales.
International matches have taken place since 1871 when the first game was played between Scotland and England at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, is held every four years. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are other important international competitions that are held annually.
National club and provincial competitions include the Premiership in England, the Top 14 in France, the Bunnings NPC in New Zealand, the League One in Japan and the Currie Cup in South Africa. Other transnational club competitions include the United Rugby Championship of club teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa and Wales, European Rugby Champions Cup in Europe, and Super Rugby Pacific in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Former Rugby School student Albert Pell is credited with having formed the first "football" team while a student at Cambridge University.[10] Major private schools each used different rules during this early period, with former pupils from Rugby and Eton attempting to carry their preferred rules through to their universities.[11] A significant event in the early development of rugby football was the production of a written set of rules at Rugby School in 1845,[12][13] followed by the Cambridge Rules that were drawn up in 1848.[14]
Formed in 1863, the national governing body The Football Association (FA) began codifying a set of universal football rules. These new rules specifically banned players from running with the ball in hand and also disallowed hacking (kicking players in the shins), both of which were legal and common tactics under the Rugby School's rules of the sport. In protest at the imposition of the new rules, the Blackheath Club left the FA[15][16] followed by several other clubs that also favoured the "Rugby Rules". Although these clubs decided to ban hacking soon afterwards, the split was permanent, and the FA's codified rules became known as "association football" whilst the clubs that had favoured the Rugby Rules formed the Rugby Football Union in 1871,[15] and their code became known as "rugby football".
In 1895, there was a major schism within rugby football in England in which numerous clubs from Northern England resigned from the RFU over the issue of reimbursing players for time lost from their workplaces. The split highlighted the social and class divisions in the sport in England. Although the rules of the game were not a factor in the split, the breakaway teams subsequently adopted some rule changes and this became the separate code of "rugby league". The RFU's code thereafter took on the name "rugby union" to differentiate it from rugby league,[17] but both versions of the sport are known simply as "rugby" throughout most of the world.[18]
The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England in Edinburgh. Scotland won the game by one goal and one try to one goal.[15][19] By 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby sevens tournament, the Melrose Sevens,[20] which is still held annually.
Between 1905 and 1908, all three major Southern Hemisphere rugby countries sent their first touring teams to the Northern Hemisphere: New Zealand in 1905, followed by South Africa in 1906 and Australia in 1908. All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics,[28] and were far more successful than critics had expected.[29]
The New Zealand 1905 touring team performed a haka before each match, leading Welsh Rugby Union administrator Tom Williams to suggest that Wales player Teddy Morgan lead the crowd in singing the Welsh National Anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, as a response. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in: the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event.[30][nb 2] In 1905 France played England in its first international match.[28]
Rugby union was included as an event in the Olympic Games four times during the early 20th century. No international rugby games and union-sponsored club matches were played during the First World War, but competitions continued through service teams such as the New Zealand Army team.[32] During the Second World War no international matches were played by most countries, though Italy, Germany and Romania played a limited number of games,[33][34][35] and Cambridge and Oxford continued their annual University Match.[36]
The first officially sanctioned international rugby sevens tournament took place in 1973 at Murrayfield, one of Scotland's biggest stadiums, as part of the Scottish Rugby Union centenary celebrations.[37]
In 1987 the first Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, and the inaugural winners were New Zealand. The first World Cup Sevens tournament was held at Murrayfield in 1993. Rugby Sevens was introduced into the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and was added to the Olympic Games of 2016.[38] Both men and women's Sevens took place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.[39]
Rugby union was an amateur sport until the IRB declared the game "open" in August 1995 (shortly after the completion of the 1995 World Cup), removing restrictions on payments to players.[40][41] However, the pre-1995 period of rugby union was marked by frequent accusations of "shamateurism",[42] including an investigation in Britain by a House of Commons Select committee in early 1995.[43][44] Following the introduction of professionalism trans-national club competitions were started, with the Heineken Cup in the Northern Hemisphere and Super Rugby in the Southern Hemisphere.[45][46]
The Tri Nations, an annual international tournament involving Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, kicked off in 1996.[46] In 2012, this competition was extended to include Argentina, a country whose impressive performances in international games (especially finishing in third place in the 2007 Rugby World Cup) was deemed to merit inclusion in the competition. As a result of the expansion to four teams, the tournament was renamed The Rugby Championship.[47]
Each team starts the match with 15 players on the field and typically seven or eight substitutes but this varies at amateur level.[48] The 15 players on the field are divided into eight forwards (two more than in rugby league) and seven backs.[49] There are typically significantly more forwards on the bench than backs with, for example, South Africa having a 7-1 split in favour of forwards in their August 2023 match against New Zealand in Twickenham. A 6-2 or 5-3 split is more common.
The main responsibilities of the forward players are to gain and retain possession of the ball. Forwards play a vital role in tackling and rucking opposing players.[50] Players in these positions are generally bigger and stronger and take part in the scrum and line-out.[50] The forwards are often collectively referred to as the 'pack', especially when in the scrum formation.[51]
The front row consists of three players: two props (the loosehead prop and the tighthead prop) and the hooker. The role of the two props is to support the hooker during scrums, to provide support for the jumpers during line-outs and to provide strength and power in rucks and mauls. The third position in the front row is the hooker. The hooker is a key position in attacking and defensive play and is responsible for winning the ball in the scrum. Hookers normally throw the ball in at line-outs.[49][52]
The second row consists of two locks or lock forwards. Locks are usually the tallest players in the team and specialise as line-out jumpers.[49] The main role of the lock in line-outs is to make a standing jump, often supported by the other forwards, to either collect the thrown ball or ensure the ball comes down on their side. Locks also have an important role in the scrum, binding directly behind the three front row players and providing forward drive.[49] 152ee80cbc
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