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The distinctive features common to both rugby games are the ovoid ball and the fact that passing the ball forwards is illegal, so that ground can be gained only by running with the ball or kicking it.
Set pieces of the Union game include the scrum, where packs of opposing players push against each other for possession, and the line out where lines of players attempt to catch the ball thrown from the sidelines.
In the League game, the scrum still exists, but is of greatly reduced importance, and there are no line-outs.
The main difference between the two games, besides League having thirteen players and Union fifteen, is that possession following the tackle is contested in Union and uncontested in League.
Scoring in both games is by either grounding the ball at the opponents' end of the field, or kicking it between upright posts.
The legendary origin of Rugby football, whereby a young man named William Webb Ellis 'picked up the ball and ran', while playing football at Rugby School is often considered to be a myth. There were no standard rules for football during Webb Ellis's time at Rugby (1816-1825) and most varieties involved carrying the ball and the story first appeared in 1876 some four years after his death. However, the trophy for the Rugby Union World Cup is named Webb Ellis in his honour and a plaque at the school 'commemorates' the 'achievement'.
Argentina-France Rugby Union match
In October of 1863, The Football Association was formed with the intention of standardising the various forms of football that were being played at the time. During a series of six meetings, held at the Freemason's Tavern in London, representatives of the public schools and Universities along with a number of prominent independent clubs met to establish a single code of football. The first draft included rules that allowed features that are now part of Rugby football such as running forward with the ball to be charged, held, tripped etc. These rules were gradually dropped and a variety of the "Cambridge Rules" were adopted. In the final meeting the representative from Blackheath withdrew his club from the association over the removal of a rule allowing hacking (kicking an opponent in the shins). Blackheath and a number of other clubs continued to play their own individual varieties of football. On January 26 1871, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was formed, leading to the standardisation of the rules for all clubs that played a variety of the Rugby School laws. The 1890s saw a clash of cultures within the game between Northern working men's rugby club and the southern clubs of gentleman and the nature of professionalism within the game. On 29 August 1895 twenty-one clubs split from the RFU and met at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, forming the Northern Rugby Football Union with their own code of rules, later becoming the Rugby Football League (RFL).
The high level of contact and lack of protective padding make both codes of Rugby an extremely physical game. Touch Rugby offers a variation on the same theme without injury or some of the complications of traditional rugby.
An alternative, "posh" name for the sport (though not often heard nowadays, and mainly referring to the Union code) is "rugger". Those heavily into the rugby lifestyle (heavy drinking, striped jumpers, girlfriends called Kay etc.) are sometimes referred to as "rugger buggers". Retired players who still turn up to watch, drink and serve on committees are known as "alickadoos", or less kindly as "old Farts" (see W. Carling).
In Australia and New Zealand the two codes are known as "Rugby", meaning Rugby Union and "League", meaning Rugby League. On the east coast of Australia, Rugby League is widely called "footy" (which is extremely confusing for other Australians for whom the term refers to Australian Rules Football).
