Rugby may refer to a number of games derived from football. The game of rugby football was initially developed at the English Rugby School and a number of other games were derived from this such as American football, rugby league and rugby union. Today, when a person says “rugby”, they probably are referring to rugby league or rugby union.
Both, rugby league and rugby union are played professionally and at the amateur level in several countries. Rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea and is played in countries such Great Britain, Australia, France, South Africa and New Zealand. Many other countries also play rugby league including Canada, Russia, Lebanon, Japan and America.
Rugby union has 11 major unions comprising England, Wales, France, Italy, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, South Africa and Argentina. This game is the national sport of Wales, New Zealand and South Africa. Countries where rugby union is played but has less important include America, Japan, Fiji, Portugal, Georgia, Spain, Namibia, Romania, Samoa, Uruguay and Tonga.
Rugby league teams have 13 players and rugby union teams have 15 players. In rugby union, players can ruck or maul in order to contest possession of the ball after a tackle, whereas in rugby league, possession cannot be contested and play must continue. In rugby league, the team in possession of the ball has to score a goal before six tackles and if it cannot do so then it has to give up possession to the opposition. In rugby union, there is no upper limit on tackles and the team can retain possession of the ball for as many tackles as they like and keep attempting to kick goals while they have control of the ball. Both forms of rugby are played with a prolate spheroid ball and passing the ball forward is prohibited in both sports. Rugby union is considered to be the original game and was traditionally played by the upper classes, whereas rugby league was traditionally s game of the middle and working classes.
Rugby rules are strictly implemented and unsporting behaviour is frowned upon particularly because rugby is a dangerous sport and bad tackles can lead to serious injuries. Rugby is sometimes called “rugger” in the UK or “rug-off”. In France, rugby league fans are called "treizistes" and this term has spread to English speaking countries as well. In Australia, rugby league is known as "league" or "footy" and rugby union is known as "rugby" or "union".
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