Rugby union
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.
Not to be confused with Rugby league.Highest governing body
- Union[1]
- Rugby
- Rugger
15 (with up to 8 substitutes)
Separate competitions
- Team sport
- Outdoor
- Full contact
- Rugby ball
- Scrum cap (optional)
- Rugby boots
- Mouthguard
- Kicking tee (optional) (often used by kickers)
- Shoulder pads (optional)
Worldwide (most popular in certain European and Commonwealth countries)
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.
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.
The international governing body of rugby union (and associated games such as sevens) is World Rugby (WR).[91] The WR headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.[91] WR, founded in 1886, governs the sport worldwide and publishes the game's laws and rankings.[91] As of February 2014, WR (then known as the IRB, for International Rugby Board) recorded 119 unions in its membership, 101 full members and 18 associate member countries.[2] According to WR, rugby union is played by men and women in over 100 countries.[91] WR controls the Rugby World Cup,[91] the Women's Rugby World Cup,[92] Rugby World Cup Sevens,[93] HSBC Sevens Series,[94] HSBC Women's Sevens Series,[95] World Under 20 Championship,[96] World Under 20 Trophy,[97] Nations Cup[98] and the Pacific Nations Cup.[99] WR holds votes to decide where each of these events are to be held, except in the case of the Sevens World Series for men and women, for which WR contracts with several national unions to hold individual events.
Six regional associations, which are members of WR, form the next level of administration; these are:
SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby) is a joint venture of the South African Rugby Union, New Zealand Rugby, Rugby Australia and the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) that operates Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations before the entry of Argentina).[106] Although UAR initially had no representation on the former SANZAR board, it was granted input into the organisation's issues, especially with regard to The Rugby Championship,[107] and became a full SANZAAR member in 2016 (when the country entered Super Rugby).
National unions oversee rugby union within individual countries and are affiliated to WR. Since 2016, the WR Council has 40 seats. A total of 11 unions—the eight foundation unions of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France, plus Argentina, Canada and Italy—have two seats each. In addition, the six regional associations have two seats each. Four more unions—Georgia, Japan, Romania and the USA—have one seat each. Finally, the chairman and vice chairman, who usually come from one of the eight foundation unions (although the current vice chairman, Agustín Pichot, is with the non-foundation Argentine union) have one vote each.[108][91]