RUGBY UNION, a ball game using an oval ball, played by 2 teams of 15 players each in the amateur version, and 2 teams of 13 players each in the professional version. The pitch is 100x69m (formerly, it was defined in the Imperial standard as 110x75yds., or 105.4x68.55m). The goals consist of posts 3.4m high, with a crossbar at a height of 3.05m. The inflated oval ball is covered with leather or plastic, and has a length of 280-300mm, and a max. circumference of 760-790mm, and weighs 400-440g. The object of the game is to move the ball by carrying, passing or kicking it, into the opponents' scoring zone at the far end of the pitch. Points are scored in the following situations (professional scoring in parentheses): grounding the ball in the opponents' scoring zone (the so-called 'try' or 'touch down') scores 5pts., formerly 4; a successful conversion, or shooting the ball by place kick or drop kick over the crossbar is worth 2pts.; a penalty kick scores 3pts.; and a drop kick in general play is also worth 3pts. The ball may be passed by hand only backwards, but it can be kicked in any direction. A match consists of two 40-min. halves with a 5-min. interval. Due to the frequent injuries, protective helmets were introduced in the 1990s, but they are recommended rather than obligatory. Players sent off for offences or eliminated due to injuries may not be substituted for. As a result, the game shapes the ability to make up for unexpected losses of players by testing the effectiveness of a reduced team. For that reason, it promotes those features of team work that are closer to real life than e.g. the tactics of substitution in football, basketball or ice hockey. See also >WHEELCHAIR RUGBY.

History. It is traditionally believed that rugby originated during a football game played at Rugby School on 7 April 1823, when one of the pupils, W.W. Ellis, after an unsuccessful effort, grabbed the ball, ran to the goal, and scored, which was obviously not recognized as a valid goal by the referee. The incident became well known in England as an example of breaking the rules of fair play but did not lead to any changes in the rules of football. However, in 1839, the Cambridge student A. Pell, a member of the university's football team, suggested that they should copy the famous incident of Rugby. The experiment succeeded, leading to the development of a new game which came to be known as 'rugby football' in Cambridge. However, in contrast to what many sport historians believe, W.W. Ellis's exploit was not an innovation but rather a conscious breach of the rules of one game to unexpectedly introduce those of another, known as the >WINCHESTER COLLEGE FOOTBALL. The name 'rugby football' was to be later truncated to 'rugby'. From about the half of the 19th cent., the game caught on at Eng. public schools and universities, which led to the estab. of an inter-university committee who introduced codified rules. In 1866, Amer. journalist H. Chadwick started popularizing rugby in the USA, along with football and cricket, initially with poor results. The first Amer. rugby club was founded in 1875 but the game was later absorbed by >AMERICAN FOOTBALL, which actually borrowed many elements from it. In 1871, a general meeting of Eng. rugby clubs was held, and the Eng. Rugby Union (today Rugby Football) was established. Similar national organizations were set up in Scotland (1873), Ireland (1874) and Wales (1881). They were all amateur associations. In 1887-88, a team consisting of players of a number of Eng. clubs traveled to Australia and N.Zealand. The game turned out to be esp. suited to the physical and mental predispositions of the Maoris, who took the N.Zealand rugby team to many successes in the following decades. In 1895, 22 Eng. clubs broke away from the RFU and formed the Rugby Football League (RFL), whose professional character has been maintained to this day. (The RFU remained amateur.) In 1934, the Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur (FIRA) was established. Rugby is a mass sport mainly in the United Kingdom, with about 2,500 clubs and about 120,000 players. The most important international tournaments include the so-called Five Nations tournament (England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and France) and the Triple Crown tournament. In N.America, amateurs participate in the International Rugby Union Pacific Coast Series.

Although the name suggests participation by a large number of teams from all over the world, or at least the Pacific Coast, in actuality only 2 teams participate - Berkeley University (USA) and University of Brit. Columbia (Canada). Amateur rugby was on the Olympic program in 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924 but was not too successful - sometimes there were fewer teams than medals to be given away. A general fight between the players occurred during the 1924 final match between the USA and France, eventually sealing the game's fate; the suggestion to drop it from the program had already been made as it was an unpopular event that burdened the national teams with large numbers of players. The Olympic gold went to France (1900), Australasia (1908), and the USA (1920 and 1924).
After WWII, the game became popular in socialist countries. It developed esp. well in Czechoslovakia and Rumania (the latter team had won an Olympic medal in 1924). Today, the main events under the auspices of the FIRA are the FIRA Cup, and the W.Ch. and E.Ch. Top international teams include France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, N.Zealand, Australia, S.Africa and the USA. Rugby played with 7 players in a team has been increasingly popular. A World Cup was first organized in 1998 for both men and women. 91 teams participate in international >SEVEN-A-SIDE rugby events (1999).

Failing this requirement is punished with severe financial penalties that make playing unprofitable. There are also regulatory limitations of the fees paid for playing rugby. The salary is higher for a victory than for a loss and, on the average, is comparable to salaries in other professions, making profiteering on players more difficult. However, these rules are often evaded by offering the players well-paid jobs outside rugby. The World Cup is the main international event. International matches also enjoy high prestige. Tendencies towards cooperation between amateur and professional rugby organizations are increasingly visible, resulting from the globalization of the sport and the influence of the mass media.
Rugby in literature and art. Rugby has never been an obsession in literature and art but it has been included in some outstanding works. The history of literature associated with Rugby College, where the game originated, was started by T. Hughes's famous novel Tom Brown's School Days (1857). It includes a chapter entitled The Last Match, devoted to rugby. The atmosphere of an Eng. public school, in rugby's pioneering days is depicted, together with unique rugby terminology. In 1963, one of the most famous novels of the 'angry young men' trend, This Sporting Life (1960), became the basis for a screenplay of the equally famous film under the same title, directed by L. Anderson.