Rugby football is a fast contact sport played by two teams. Players, commonly referred to as “ruggers,” on each team try to score by kicking, passing, or carrying the ball until they can kick it over the opponent’s goal or touch it down in the opponent’s in-goal area. The team that scores the most points wins the match.
There are three versions of rugby football— Rugby Union, Rugby League, and Rugby Sevens. Rugby Union is the oldest of the three. All versions are played by amateurs at the lower levels and by professionals at the top levels. All three types of rugby football originated in the United Kingdom in the 1800’s and are now played worldwide.
In Rugby Union, each team has 15 players. Rugby League teams have 13 players, and Rugby Sevens teams have 7 players. The three forms of rugby football feature almost continuous play. Stoppages occur only if a player is injured, after points are scored, or if the ball crosses the boundaries of the field. Play also stops if there is a restart of play resulting from a violation of the laws of the game. (The rules of rugby are formally called laws.) Union and league matches are divided into two 40-minute halves separated by a half-time rest period of no more than 15 minutes. Rugby Sevens matches are played in seven-minute halves with a two-minute half-time. 
Rugby Union, Rugby League, and Rugby Sevens matches all involve tackling and other physical play. The players wear little protective equipment. A typical uniform consists of a shirt, shorts, knee-length stockings, and cleated boots. Many players also wear mouth guards.
Rugby Union
developed in England and soon spread to Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. It later became popular in many other countries throughout the world. Separate unions govern the sport in Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, the United States, and Wales. Australia and New Zealand both field national teams. Australia’s team is called the Wallabies. New Zealand’s team is known as the All Blacks for their black clothing.
Rugby League
is played throughout Europe and the Pacific. The sport’s main playing nations are Australia, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Most of the countries that play Rugby League regularly send their national teams on overseas tours. The major international competitions include the Four Nations tournament, the Pacific Rugby Cup, and the European Rugby Cup.
Rugby Sevens.
Rugby can also be played by teams of seven players each in a version called Rugby Sevens. A Rugby Sevens game consists of two halves that are played for seven minutes each. The rules for Rugby Sevens are mostly the same as those for standard rugby. However, with fewer players on each side, Rugby Sevens is a faster game. Men’s and women’s Rugby Sevens were first played in the Summer Olympic Games in 2016.
History.
According to tradition, rugby football originated from a soccer game played at Rugby School in Rugby, England, in 1823. During the game, a student named William Webb Ellis broke the rules of soccer by picking up the ball and running with it. Players of the new game adopted use of an oval-shaped ball to make passing and carrying easier.
Rugby football quickly became popular throughout the United Kingdom. Teams could play with an unlimited number of players at one time, and there were few rules. In 1871, a conference of Rugby clubs formed the English Rugby Union, made up of 17 amateur clubs. The conference set the number of players on a team at 15 and established other general rules. Scotland formed its Rugby Union in 1873, and Ireland organized a Rugby Union in 1874. The Welsh Rugby Union formed in 1881.
In 1895, 21 teams from the northern counties of England broke away from the Rugby Union to form the Northern Rugby Union. The members of these teams wanted to play rugby professionally, which the Rugby Union did not allow. The Northern Rugby Union changed its name to the Rugby Football League in 1922. The International Rugby Board, formed in 1948, was established to govern both Rugby Union and Rugby League.
The first rugby team in Australia was the New South Wales Rugby Union, which was formed in 1875. It is the oldest union outside the United Kingdom. Rugby League was formed in 1907.
British settlers introduced rugby into New Zealand in about 1870. Rugby League began in New Zealand in 1905.
