Rugby is a style of football that was created sometime around 1800 in the United Kingdom.  In 1871 was the first international Rugby match ever held, and was between England and Scotland.  It was introduced to the Olympics in 1900, and was an event through the 1924 games. In those days Rugby was only in Europe, and parts of Canada.  Since that time Rugby has slowly, but surely gained a lot more fans in different locations around the world.  Australia, Europe, Africa, and even the United States have all jumped on board, and made Rugby a global sport.

Standard Rugby is played with 15 men on each team, and there is also a version of Rugby called Sevens, which has seven on each team.  It is played very similar to football in many ways, as it is a contact sport, to say the least.  In other ways it is very much its own game, the ball is shaped similar to a football, but is larger.  Each match lasts 80 minutes, 40 minutes each half.  Scoring can be done in two different ways, there is scoring a ‘try’, which is five points, or there is a goal.  The ‘try’ is when a player crosses the goal line, and downs the ball while in his hand.  A goal is simply kicking the ball through the uprights which are similar to those of American Football.  Kicking in Rugby however is a little different as the ball must hit the ground immediately before kicking it.  Rugby is played on a field that is less than 100 meters long, and less than 70 meters wide, as there is no exact size only limits.

Movement of the ball is pretty simple for the most part.  Which ever team has the ball may only kick the ball forward, or run it, and may not throw it forward.  If one player throws the ball to the other it must be lateral or behind the person who threw it.  The defending team is aloud to tackle the ball carrier to try and take it, which usually leads to some pretty intense ‘scrums’ as it is called by the Rugby Union.  Scrums are as us Americans just call pile ups, these can get very intense in Rugby occasionally as the players wear very little, almost no pads.  This is not a sport for the weak, or the fragile being that there is a lot of physical play, but it is regulated very well.  Overall Rugby is a very rough, and tough sport that can be very interesting to watch.