A Brief Summary of the History and Rules of Rugby

Rugby is an intensely physical sport that demands cooperation, respect, and huge amounts of training. The game consists of two teams with fifteen players and seven substitutes each who play in a tournament of single games throughout the year for a duration of two forty-minute halves with a ten-minute break between the halves.

Also known as rugby fifteen, the game became an Olympic sport in the early 20th century, won by the United States male players awarded gold medals in 1920 and 1924. It has graduated to becoming a world sport every four years with the coveted prize of the Rugby World Cup. It is such a beloved sport that it has become the third-largest single-sporting event globally.

The goal of the sport is to send the ball to the competitors’ goal line and smash the ball to the turf to score. Rugby players must work as a team to create room for the ball to be sent to the other end of the field while strategically maximizing all the players within the field.

The rules indicate that the participants may only use their hands to pass the ball sideways or backward throughout the match to move the ball past their competitors’ side of the pitch. To move the ball forward, the players must use only their feet to kick and make passes, and this can only be done when the team is behind the ball, not in front of it.

As a result, conventional rugby is played by splitting teams into two groups of forwards and backs and using different kinds of plays such as lineouts, mauls, and rucks. Here’s a brief outline of what these terms mean: Lineout is a means of restarting the game after the ball crosses the goal line; players use mauls as a tackle technique performed by grabbing the ball carrier by the hips or legs; a team performs rucks using feet to control the ball; and lastly, scrums are a method of protectively retaining possession during play.

When the ball is placed on the ground at the opponent’s end of the field, game officials record five points (also referred to as a try) for the team, which is the only way to get five points. After each try, the scoring team gets the opportunity to boot the ball through the goal post for an extra two points. The team with the most points at the end of the match is the winner.

There must be a presence of a referee and two touch judges to keep time, ensure order on the pitch and make decisions regarding fouls and infractions. A foul may occur when a player tackles a ball carrier from the shoulders. An offside may also occur when a player is seen further up the pitch than the teammate carrying the ball. In such instances, the unoffending team chooses between continuing the game or stopping for a penalty kick or a scrum. If the team picks a penalty and a goal is made, the team is awarded three points.

The rules also state that the field of rugby must be approximately one hundred meters in length and seventy meters in width with a minimum of a ten-meter dead ball area. The goal post must be H shaped and six meters wide with no regulations on height. Further, the field must have markings that indicate the halfway line, five-meter line, twenty-two-meter line, ten-meter line, and the dead-ball line.