66-617: International Gay Rugby ( IGR ), founded in 2000, formerly known as the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), is the umbrella organisation for the world's gay and inclusive rugby clubs. Based in London , UK, IGR is recognised by World Rugby as the representative organisation of the LGBT and inclusive rugby community, up to the point they both have signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining
132-478: A Protector of Aborigines in Victoria, who stated that he had witnessed Wurundjeri Aboriginal people east of Melbourne playing the game: The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. ...The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot, using
198-609: A free kick , is derived from the Aboriginal word mumarki used in Marn Grook, and meaning "to catch". The application of the word "mark" in "foot-ball" (and in many other games) dates to the Elizabethan era and is likely derived from the practice where a player marks the ground to show where a catch had been taken or where the ball should be placed. The use of the word "mark" to indicate an "impression or trace forming
264-430: A "great game of football" which inaugurated festivities. James Dawson , in his 1881 book titled Australian Aborigines , described a game, which he referred to as 'football', where the players of two teams kick around a ball made of possum fur. Each side endeavours to keep possession of the ball, which is tossed a short distance by hand, then kicked in any direction. The side which kicks it oftenest and furthest gains
330-580: A 4-year cycle. It is an international tournament that is organized by the International Rugby League . The event is played in the league format and features the top 16 teams from around the world with three different winners recorded so far. Australia won the 2017 Rugby League World Cup , played in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The Kangaroos backed this up by winning the 2021 tournament also. The Rugby World Cup , which
396-474: A Tier 2 nation, regularly ranks up with the Tier 1 countries. About a quarter of rugby players are injured in each season. Being a high contact sport, rugby union has the highest announced rates of concussions and outside England also has the highest number of catastrophic injuries out of any team sport. A 2014 study found that during match play concussion was reported at a higher level, and during training at
462-505: A commitment between the two organisations to work together to educate and eliminate homophobia in rugby. Also, IGR provides its member clubs with development support and resources in the areas of club organisation, recruitment, retention, fundraising, event management, and regional and national union relations. IGR ensures the regular celebration of the Bingham Cup , the biennial world championships of gay and inclusive rugby, as well as
528-719: A long history of being played at state schools until the 1980s) is becoming increasingly popular in comprehensive schools . Despite this stereotype, the game, particularly in the West Country is popular amongst all classes. In contrast, rugby league has traditionally been seen as a working-class pursuit. Another exception to rugby union's upper-class stereotype is in Wales, where it has been traditionally associated with small village teams made up of coal miners and other industrial workers who played on their days off. In Ireland, both rugby union and rugby league are unifying forces across
594-457: A lower level, but still at a higher level than most players of any other sport receive. A rugby ball is a diamond shape ball used for easier passing. Richard Lindon and Bernardo Solano started making balls for Rugby school out of hand stitched, four-panel, leather casings and pigs' bladders. The rugby ball's distinctive shape is supposedly due to the pig's bladder, although early balls were more plum-shaped than oval. The balls varied in size in
660-472: Is a deliberate infringement by Ryan Tandy in order for the first points scored to be a penalty goal in a 2010 NRL match; the attempt backfired when instead of taking a shot at goal, a try was scored. Marn grook Marn Grook , marn-grook or marngrook (also spelt Marn Gook ) is the popular collective name for traditional Indigenous Australian football games played at gatherings and celebrations by sometimes more than 100 players. From
726-534: Is a link between the two games in some way for me is immaterial because it really highlights that games such as Marn Grook, which is one of the names for Aboriginal football, were played by Aborigines and should be celebrated in their own right An 1860 eyewitness account of an Aboriginal colony (likely the Taungurung ) from the Broken River (between the current cities of Shepparton and Benalla ) describes
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#1732801192146792-494: Is both a professional and amateur game, and is dominated by the first tier unions: England , New Zealand , Ireland , Wales , South Africa , Australia , Argentina , Scotland , Italy , France and Japan . Second and third tier unions include Belgium , Brazil , Canada , Chile , Fiji , Georgia , Germany , Hong Kong , Kenya , Namibia , the Netherlands , Portugal , Romania , Russia , Samoa , Spain , Tonga ,
858-480: Is circumstantial and anecdotal. Tom Wills was raised in Victoria's Western District . As the only white child in the district, it is said that he was fluent in the languages of the Djab wurrung and frequently played with local Aboriginal children on his father's property, Lexington , outside modern-day Moyston . This story has been passed down through the generations of his family. Col Hutchison, former historian for
924-523: Is popular in working class communities. Nevertheless, rugby league is perceived as the game of the working-class people in northern England and in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland. In the United Kingdom, rugby union fans sometimes used the term "rugger" as an alternative name for the sport (see Oxford '-er' ), although this archaic expression has not had currency since
990-662: The Australian Football League 's official account of the game's history as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations—sternly rejects the theory, stating that while Marn Grook was "definitely" played around Port Fairy and throughout the Melbourne area, there is no evidence that the game was played north of the Grampians or by the Djabwurrung people, and the claim that Wills observed and possibly played
1056-695: The European settlement of Australia , mostly from the colonial Victorian explorers and settlers. Historical reports support it as a widespread activity across south-eastern Australia of the Djabwurrung and Jardwadjali people and other tribes in the Wimmera , Mallee and Millewa regions of western Victoria . According to some accounts, the range extended to the Wurundjeri in the Yarra Valley ,
1122-690: The Gunai people of Gippsland , and the Riverina in south-western New South Wales . The Warlpiri people of Central Australia played a very similar kicking and catching game with a possum skin ball, and the game was known as pultja . North of Brisbane in Queensland in the 1860s it was known as Purru Purru . Some historians claim that Marn Grook had a role in the formation of Australian rules football , which originated in Melbourne in 1858 and
1188-472: The International Rugby League (rugby league). Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The governing body of Canadian football, Football Canada , was known as the Canadian Rugby Union as late as 1967, more than fifty years after the sport parted ways with rugby rules. Following
1254-582: The Kaurna language a ball is a pando or parndo . An 1857 sketch found in 2007 describes an observation by Victorian scientist William Blandowski , of the Latjilatji people playing a football game near Merbein, on his expedition to the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers . The image is inscribed: A group of children is playing with a ball. The ball is made out of typha roots (roots of
1320-630: The Rugby Football Union (RFU). In 1892, after charges of professionalism (compensation of team members) were made against some clubs for paying players for missing work, the Northern Rugby Football Union , usually called the Northern Union (NU), was formed. The existing rugby union authorities responded by issuing sanctions against the clubs, players, and officials involved in the new organization. After
1386-679: The Union Cup , the European tournament and NORAM , the North American tournament. As of May 2021 IGR lists 94 gay and inclusive rugby clubs as members. France Rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league . Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire , England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which
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#17328011921461452-630: The United States , Russia , Lebanon , Serbia , Europe and Australasia, there are two major professional competitions—the Australasian National Rugby League and the Super League . International Rugby League is dominated by Australia , England and New Zealand , though Tonga and Samoa have threatened this hegemony regularly since 2017. In Papua New Guinea , it is the national sport. Other nations from
1518-476: The United States , rugby developed into gridiron football . During the late 1800s (and even the early 1900s), the two forms of the game were very similar (to the point where the United States was able to win the gold medal for rugby union at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics), but numerous rule changes have differentiated the gridiron-based game from its rugby counterpart, introduced by Walter Camp in
1584-509: The Woiwurung language of the Kulin people , it means "ball" and "game". These games featured punt kicking and catching a stuffed ball. They involved large numbers of players, and were played over an extremely large area. The game was subject to strict behavioural protocols: for instance all players had to be matched for size, gender and skin group relationship. However, to outside observers
1650-461: The bulrush ). It is not thrown or hit with a bat, but is kicked up in the air with a foot. The aim of the game – never let the ball touch the ground. In relation to the 1857 sketch, Historian Greg de Moore commented: What I can say for certain is that it's the first image of any kind of football that's been discovered in Australia. It pre-dates the first European images of any kind of football, by almost ten years in Australia. Whether or not there
1716-401: The rugby league positions have names and requirements similar to rugby union positions . Notably, however, there are no flankers in rugby league. In England, rugby union is widely regarded as an "establishment" sport, played mostly by members of the upper and middle classes . For example, many pupils at public schools and grammar schools play rugby union, although the game (which had
1782-410: The tackle and its aftermath: Set pieces of the union code include the scrum and the line-out . The scrum occurs after a minor infringement of the rules (most often a knock-on, when a player knocks the ball forward). After an infringement, packs of opposing players "scrum" or push against each other for possession. In a line-out , parallel lines of players from each team, arranged perpendicular to
1848-415: The touch-line , attempt to catch the ball thrown from touch . A rule has been added to line-outs which allows the jumper to be pulled down once a players' feet are on the ground. In the league code, the scrum still exists albeit with greatly reduced importance. In league, the scrum involves fewer players and is rarely contested. Set pieces are generally started from the play-the-ball situation. Many of
1914-464: The 1895 split in rugby football, the two forms rugby league and rugby union differed in administration only. Soon, however, the desire among the northern clubs to make the rules simpler and more attractive to paying spectators meant that the rules of rugby league were modified e.g. reducing teams from 15 to 13 players, removing the line-out and replacing the ruck with the play-the-ball , resulting in two distinct sports. The form of rugby played at
1980-514: The 1950s or earlier. New Zealanders refer to rugby union simply as either "rugby" or "union", or even simply "football", and to rugby league as "rugby league" or "league". In the U.S., people who play rugby are sometimes called "ruggers", a term little used elsewhere except facetiously. There is a strong tradition of rugby union in France , particularly in the Basque, Occitan and Catalan areas along
2046-529: The AFL, wrote in support of the theory postulated by Flanagan, and his account appears on an official AFL memorial to Tom Wills in Moyston, erected in 1998. While playing as a child with Aboriginal children in this area [Moyston] he [Tom Wills] developed a game which he later utilised in the formation of Australian Football. Sports historian Gillian Hibbins—who researched the origins of Australian rules football for
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2112-479: The Adelaide Observer, stated that "an ancient game was played by my people with a ball about the size of a cricket ball, made of hair and emu feathers. Sides were chosen, and the ball was passed from one to the other, the idea being to keep it in possession of those on one side, and not to let their rivals secure it." By 1906, the name Marn Grook had entered the lexicon, several articles in newspapers of
2178-463: The Indigenous contribution. They go on to suggest this is an example of white Australians struggling to accept Indigenous peoples "as active and intelligent human subjects". If Tom Wills had have said "Hey, we should have a game of our own more like the football the black fellas play" it would have killed it stone dead before it was even born. Advocates of these theories have drawn comparisons in
2244-674: The Olympic Games is known as rugby sevens , based broadly on a rugby union format, and organised by World Rugby. In this form of the game, each team has seven players on the field at one time playing seven-minute halves. The rules and pitch size are the same as rugby union. Rugby Nines represents a similar innovation in the league code. Although rugby football was codified at Rugby School , many rugby playing countries had pre-existing football games similar to rugby. Forms of traditional football similar to rugby have been played throughout Europe and beyond. Many of these involved handling of
2310-619: The Rugby Football League in 1922) at the George Hotel , Huddersfield , over payments to players who took time off work to play ("broken-time payments"), thus making rugby league the first code to turn professional and pay players. Rugby union turned professional one hundred years later, following the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. The respective world governing bodies are World Rugby (rugby union) and
2376-725: The South Pacific and Europe also play in the Pacific Cup and European Cup respectively. The premier international competition is the Rugby League World Cup , which is contested quadrennially. The premier international club competition is the World Club Challenge , which is contested annually in February. Currently there are two major domestic professional leagues globally: In Canada and
2442-564: The United States , Uruguay and Zimbabwe. Rugby Union is administered by World Rugby (WR), whose headquarters are located in Dublin , Ireland. It is the national sport in New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Georgia, Wales and Madagascar , and is the most popular form of rugby globally. The Olympic Games have admitted the seven-a-side version of the game, known as Rugby sevens , into the programme from Rio de Janeiro in 2016 onwards. There
2508-455: The United States and John Thrift Meldrum Burnside in Canada. Among unique features of the North American game are Worldwide, there are two major professional leagues of gridiron football, both domestic: Distinctive features common to both rugby codes include the use of an oval ball and the prohibition of the forward pass . Due to the prohibition, players can gain ground only by running with
2574-484: The above include New Zealand (although rugby league is still considered to be a lower class game by many or a game for 'westies' referring to lower class western suburbs of Auckland and more recently, southern Auckland where the game is also dominant), Wales, France (except Paris), Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Scottish Borders, County Limerick (see Munster Rugby ) and the Pacific Islands, where rugby union
2640-474: The ball or by kicking it. Furthermore, unlike American and Canadian football, neither league nor union players wear any sort of protection or armour. The two rugby codes differ as the result of changes made to the rules of rugby league . League implemented these changes with the aim of making a faster-paced and more try-oriented game than rugby union . The main differences between the two games, besides league having teams of 13 players and union of 15, involve
2706-586: The ball was carried and tossed date to the Middle Ages (see medieval football ). Rugby football spread to other English public schools in the 19th century and across the British Empire as former pupils continued to play it. Rugby football split into two codes in 1895, when twenty-one clubs from the North of England left the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (renamed
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2772-482: The ball, and scrummaging formations. For example, New Zealand had Kī-o-rahi , Australia marn grook , Japan kemari , Georgia lelo burti , the Scottish Borders Jeddart Ba' and Cornwall Cornish hurling , Central Italy Calcio Fiorentino , South Wales cnapan , East Anglia Campball , Ireland caid , an ancestor of Gaelic football , and France had La Soule . In 1871, English clubs met to form
2838-747: The beginning depending upon how large the pig's bladder was. In rugby union, World Rugby regulates the size and shape of the ball under Law 2 (also known as Law E.R.B); an official rugby union ball is oval and made of four panels, has a length in-line of 280–300 millimetres, a circumference (end to end) of 740–770 millimetres, and a circumference (in width) of 580–620 millimetres. It is made of leather or suitable synthetic material and may be treated to make it water resistant and easier to grip. The rugby ball may not weigh more than 460 grams or less than 410 and has an air pressure of 65.71–68.75 kilopascals , or 0.67–0.70 kilograms per square centimetre, or 9.5–10.0 lbs per square inch. Spare balls are allowed under
2904-559: The border with Spain. The game is very popular in South Africa, having been introduced by English-speaking settlers in the 19th century. British colonists also brought the game with them to Australia and New Zealand, where the game is widely played. It has spread since to much of Polynesia, having particularly strong followings in Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Rugby union continues to grow in the Americas and parts of Asia as well. French influence, and
2970-482: The catching of the kicked ball (the mark ) and the high jumping to catch the ball (the spectacular mark ) that have been attributes of both games. However, the connection is speculative. For instance spectacular high marking did not become common in Australian rules football until the 1880s. Some claim that the origin of the Australian rules term mark , meaning a clean, fair catch of a kicked ball, followed by
3036-480: The condition that players or teams do not seek an advantage by changing the ball. Smaller sized balls may also be used in games between younger players. Much larger versions of traditional balls are also available for purchase, but these are mainly for their novelty attraction. The Rugby League World Cup was the first World Cup of either of the Rugby codes and was first held in France in 1954 , and as of 2013 occurs on
3102-418: The first rules were influenced by the Indigenous game of Marngrook". Melbourne Cricket Club researcher Trevor Ruddell wrote in 2013 that Marn Grook "has no causal link with, nor any documented influence upon, the early development of Australian football." Chris Hallinan and Barry Judd describe the historical perspective of the history of Australian Rules as Anglo-centric, having been reluctant to acknowledge
3168-525: The four-year period, with the exceptions of 2021 and 2026 for the RLWC.. Rugby shirts were formerly entirely made of cotton but are now made of synthetic fabric. This material has the advantage of not absorbing as much water or mud as cotton. Owing to the more aggressive nature of the game, rugby clothing, in general, is designed to be much more robust and hardwearing than that worn for association football. The rugby jerseys are slightly different depending on
3234-439: The game appeared to lack a team objective, having no real rules or scoring system. A winner could only be declared if one of the sides agreed that the other side had played better. Individual players who consistently exhibited outstanding skills, such as kicking or leaping higher than others to catch the ball, were often praised, but proficiency in the sport gave them no tribal influence. The earliest accounts emerged decades after
3300-526: The game had been played in Victoria or elsewhere on the Australian continent. A news article published in 1906 suggests that it had been observed around a century prior, which would put its first observations to Australia's earliest days as a convict colony . The earliest recorded anecdotal account is from about 1841, a decade prior to the Victorian gold rush . Robert Brough Smyth in his 1878 book, The Aborigines of Victoria , quoted William Thomas ,
3366-399: The game in the Aboriginal language Chaap Wuurong . In 1889, anthropologist Alfred Howitt , wrote that the game was played between large groups on a totemic basis – the white cockatoos versus the black cockatoos, for example, which accorded with their skin system . Acclaim and recognition went to the players who could leap or kick the highest. Howitt wrote: This game of ball-playing
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#17328011921463432-514: The game is improbable. Hibbin's account was widely publicised causing significant controversy and offending prominent Indigenous footballers who openly criticised the publication. Professor Jenny Hocking of Monash University and Nell Reidy have also published eyewitness accounts of the game having been played in the area in which Tom Wills grew up. In his exhaustive research of the first four decades of Australian rules football, historian Mark Pennings "could not find evidence that those who wrote
3498-409: The game played at Coranderrk Mission Station, where ngurungaeta (elder) William Barak discouraged the playing of imported games like cricket and encouraged the traditional native game of marn grook. In 1855 William Anderson Cawthorne documented South Australia's indigenous Adelaide Plains people. He produced a series of illustrations: one image was of a pair of playthings, a sling and a ball. In
3564-408: The game. The person who sends it the highest is considered the best player, and has the honour of burying it in the ground till required the next day. The sport is concluded with a shout of applause, and the best player is complimented on his skill. The game, which is somewhat similar to the white man's game of football, is very rough... In the appendix of Dawson's book, he lists the word Min'gorm for
3630-557: The influence of ex-pat students studying in France, expanded rugby's reach to Romania and Georgia which are the preeminent European nations behind the Six Nations Championship . British influence spread the game to Argentina, where the game took root, and the game developed in Italy thanks to influence from both France and Argentina; both Argentina and Italy have become Tier 1 nations in the sport, while Georgia. officially
3696-484: The instep for that purpose. ...The tallest men have the best chances in this game. ...Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. ...This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise. The game was a favourite of the Wurundjeri -willam clan and the two teams were sometimes based on the traditional totemic moieties of Bunjil (eagle) and Waang (crow). Robert Brough-Smyth saw
3762-525: The logo of the team on the upper left chest. With the popularity of rugby over the years, many betting establishments have made it possible for viewers of the game to place wagers on games. The various types of wagers that can be placed on games vary, however, the main types of bets that can be placed are as follows: Like most team sports, both forms of rugby are vulnerable to match-fixing, particularly bets involving easily manipulated outcomes such as conceding penalties and first point scorer. A recent example
3828-747: The national and sectarian divide, with the Ireland international teams representing both political entities. In Australia, support for both codes is concentrated in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (55% of the population), though rugby league is far more popular. The same perceived class barrier as exists between the two games in England also occurs in these states, fostered by rugby union's prominence and support at private schools. Exceptions to
3894-513: The other. The mangurt was sent as a token of friendship from one to another. According to Howitt's historical field notes published in 1907 held in the AIATSIS Collection, an account from a Mukjarawaint man from the Grampians indicated that both men and women would play in the same teams. This is further supported by an account from Beveridge from 1885. In 1929 David Uniapon , during a discussion about Harry Hewitt that appeared in
3960-494: The schism, the separate clubs were named "rugby league" and "rugby union". Walter Camp proposed at the US College Football 1880 rules convention that the contested scrummage be replaced with a " line of scrimmage " where the team with the ball started with uncontested possession. This change effectively started the evolution of the modern game of gridiron football away from its rugby origins. Rugby union
4026-682: The time describe it as a near extinct pastime and provide details on the size (about 6 inches) of the ball. Another anecdotal account of Marn Grook being played near Melbourne from 1934 describes some of the rules of the game, including the highest kicker winning the game, that it was educated by the elders and that girls also played but threw instead of kicked the ball. Since the 1980s, some commentators, including Martin Flanagan , Jim Poulter and Col Hutchinson have postulated that Australian rules football pioneer Tom Wills could have been inspired by Marn Grook. The theory hinges on evidence which
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#17328011921464092-482: The type of rugby game played. The shirts worn by rugby league footballers commonly have a large "V" around the neck. The players in rugby union wear jerseys with a more traditional design, sometimes completely white ( Cahors Rugby in France). The number of the player and his or her surname are placed on the upper back of the jersey (often name above number, with the number being significantly larger and more central), and
4158-631: Was a possibility sevens would be a demonstration sport at the 2012 London Olympics but many sports including sevens were dropped. The premier international competition is the Rugby World Cup . Currently there are four major domestic professional leagues globally: Rugby league is also both a professional and amateur game, administered on a global level by the Rugby League International Federation . In addition to amateur and semi-professional competitions in
4224-806: Was also practised among the Kurnai , the Wolgal ( Tumut river people), the Wotjoballuk as well as by the Woiworung , and was probably known to most tribes of south-eastern Australia. The Kurnai made the ball from the scrotum of an "old man kangaroo ", the Woiworung made it of tightly rolled up pieces of possum skin. It was called by them "mangurt". In this tribe the two exogamous divisions , Bunjil and Waa, played on opposite sides. The Wotjoballuk also played this game, with Krokitch on one side and Gamutch on
4290-475: Was codified the following year by members of the Melbourne Football Club . This connection has become culturally important to many Indigenous Australians, including celebrities and professional footballers from communities in which Australian rules football is highly popular. Although the consensus among historians is that Marn Grook existed before European arrival, it is not clear how long
4356-420: Was first held in New Zealand and Australia in 1987 , occurs every four years. It is an international tournament organized by World Rugby . The event is played in the union format and features the top 20 teams from around the world with four different winners recorded so far. South Africa won the 2023 Rugby World Cup , which was played in France. Since 2013, these two World Cups alternate every two years during
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