Rugby is one of the types of football played all over the world. There are two main versions of rugby, Rugby League and Rugby Union. Rugby League initially used Rugby Union rules, but they have these days developed into totally separate sports.
The beginnings of rugby football lie in medieval Europe. There were many versions of mob football played, which many people in a village could join in. The majority of games allowed for picking up the ball and running with it, while only a few restricted play to ball kicking only. This led to a great variation of ways football could be played, and it was only toward the eighteenth century that some of these games began to be unified. During the nineteenth century various organisations in England sought to unify these games and regulating rules, leading in the separate development of Rugby football and Association Football.
The Beginnings of a Great Game
According to legend, a schoolboy at Rugby School, called William Webb Ellis, picked up the ball during a football match, and ran with it to score a goal. Running with the ball caught on at the school, and during the 1850s and 1860s rugby became popular throughout the UK. The first ever rugby match was held in Scotland in 1857 between Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Academicals. The first club outside Britain was formed in Montevideo, Uruguay.
A Split in the Rules
In 1871 English clubs met to form the Rugby Football Union, but the next year, after changes of professionalism were made, the Northern Rugby Union was formed, and the existing rugby authorities replied with a ban against their members. This is when the separate games, rugby league and rugby union came into being. The rules were modified to suit both forms of rugby, and one hundred years later, both forms of rugby, with most other forms of football became openly professional sports.
Rugby Union is the form of rugby most often played, and the sport as it exists today is one of the most exciting contact sports in existence. Rugby combines the speed and movement of soccer, and the hard physical nature of American Football. The Rugby World Cup is the third most watched sporting event in the world, behind only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics. In fact, the 2003 Rugby World Cup was watched on television by over three billion people, and was broadcast in 205 countries.
A Variety of Wagers on Rugby Matches
Rugby offers its passionate fans the great betting opportunities. You can also wager at https://bettingsitesonline.net.au/rugby. A Rugby game gives spectators eighty minutes of non-stop action, and there are a number of tackles, exciting tries and kicks that you can bet on. There is the bet on the winner of the match, but the number of tries scored and goals kicked are also favourite bets. This sport is fairly straightforward, the aim of both teams to reach the opposition’s end of the field with the ball more times that than the opposition can. This sport does require that anyone wanting to bet on the game should know the rules and regulations of rugby, as well as the current form of the players, and of the teams. Weather at least is not a great matter of contention, as rugby is played in all kinds of weather.
Rugby is a game played and enjoyed in many countries of the world, and the new form of rugby, the Seven a Side Rugby has now been accepted as a sport in the Summer Olympics.