Rugby, or rugby, is a game in which an oval ball is driven by the feet or hands of the players to the end line of the field, where there is a goal similar to an H.
Today you will learn more about this sport that will make you very interested. See below.
Origin and history
The origins of rugby date back to the Greeks and Romans, who played games with balls. The person responsible for the creation of the sport is William Webb Ellis.
According to the International Rugby Federation, its origins date back to 1823, at the Rugby School, located in Rugby, England, hence the name of the sport.
The rules were oral and each school had more or less its own way of playing. William did something different from what they did at his school: he ran with the ball in his hands, instead of kicking it, as was customary.
Football itself emerged after the unification of the rules, because before the rules, games were just ball games. Rugby has undergone several changes over the years. In its first participation in the Olympic Games, in 1900, France was crowned champion.
In 1908 it was Australia's turn, and in 1920 and 1924 the medals were won by the United States. By choice of the sport's promoters, rugby was absent from the Olympic Games for 92 years, returning in 2016, when Fiji was the champion in men's rugby, and Australia, in women's rugby.
Rugby started in England and took over the world. After England, it was in New Zealand, South Africa and Australia that the sport gained a lot of attention. The New Zealand Rugby Team is one of the best in the world. Known as the All Blacks, the team often performs the Haka, which is a typical Maori dance used, among other things, as a form of intimidation.
Rugby arrived in Brazil in 1891, when the Clube Brasileiro de Futebol Rugby was founded. In 1963, the União de Rugby do Brasil (URB) was created, whose president was the Irishman Harry Donovan. Ten years later, the URB became the Associação Brasileira de Rugby (ABR), which also became the Confederação Brasileira de Rugby (CBRu) in 2010. In 2018, the Brazilian national team won the South American 6 Nations Championship, beating Colombia 67-5.
Game Rules
The field measures 100 m x 70 m, the duration of a rugby game is different in each of its versions. In the Rugby XV version, with 15 players, the game is played in 2 halves of 40 minutes, while in the Rugby Sevens version, with 7 athletes, the game is played in 2 halves of 7 minutes.
In rugby, passes are made sideways or backwards, using only the hands, and forwards, using only the feet. Tackling, which is the play in which a player is brought down, can only be performed on the player who has the ball.
Bringing down a player who is not in possession of the ball is a penalty. It is also a penalty to bring down a player with the ball at chest height. Other causes of a penalty include obstructing the path of an opposing player or a player holding the ball when he falls to the ground.
The game starts and restarts by kicking the ball in the center of the field. When the game restarts, in Rugby XV the team that scored the points kicks the ball, while in Rugby Sevens the team that scored the points kicks the ball.
How are the stitches made?
The try, which consists of crossing the opposing team's goal line (H-line) in order to put the ball on the ground, is the play that is worth the most points. When a try is scored, the team guarantees the right to kick between the goalposts, which is worth two points. This is called a conversion.
Another penalty kick, worth 3 points. This happens when a serious foul is committed against the team and the player kicks from the place where the infraction occurred. And to finish the drop goal, worth 3 points, the player has to kick the ball towards the goal post, so it must go over the horizontal crossbar, during the game.