Rugby

(also Rugby Union football), a team sport played with an oval-shaped ball on a special field with H-shaped goalposts. The point of the game is to ground the ball in the opponent’s ingoal area by passing the ball with the hands (only in a backward direction) or feet (in any direction) or to kick the ball through the opponent’s goalpost. Players may stop an opponent who is carrying the ball by tackling him with the arms or knocking him down with the shoulder. The team that wins is the one that scores the most points in a match, which consists of two periods of 40 minutes each. Four points are scored for grounding the ball, three for kicking the ball through the opponent’s goalposts during play or in penalty or free kicks, and two for a successful conversion kick after grounding. Other games played with an oval-shaped ball and deriving from Rugby are American, Gaelic, and Canadian football, Australian Rules football, and Rugby League football, all of which are played according to rules different from those of Rugby.

Modern Rugby dates to 1823, when it was founded by W. Ellis, a student at Rugby School. The first rules of the game were formulated in 1862, at which time the game was given the name Rugby football. In 1871 the first Rugby union was established in the British Isles, and 1890 saw the formation of the International Board, an international union for the various Rugby clubs of Great Britain. Between 1880 and 1890 Rugby teams were organized in France, Germany, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. International matches have been held since 1888, and Rugby was included in the Olympics in 1900, 1904, 1920, and 1924. In 1934 the International Amateur Rugby Federation (FIRA) was established; by 1974 it had a combined membership of 25 national federations.

Rugby is played on all the continents and in more than 50 countries, including all the European socialist countries. Rugby has achieved its greatest popularity in New Zealand, France, Rumania, Great Britain, and Australia. Matches to decide the winner of the FIRA Cup, the unofficial world champion, have been held for men since 1960 and for juniors since 1968.

In the USSR the first Rugby teams were organized in 1923 by M. S. Kozlov, A. A. Markushevich, A. V. Pravdin, N. Ia. Kolli, and others. Since 1934 matches have been played in a number of cities, and national championships were held in 1936 and 1939. In 1938 matches were played for the USSR Cup, with the Dynamo team from Moscow emerging as champion and cup-holder. During the 1940’s there were only individual, nonchampionship Rugby matches. The growth of the sport since the late 1950’s is due in part to B. M. Egupov, G. G. Mrelashvili, and A. A. Sorokin. Since the early 1960’s championships have been held among sports clubs, and national championships have been held annually since 1966. National champions have included teams from the sports clubs of the Moscow Higher Technical School, the Iu. A. Gagarin Air Force Academy, and Fili. Since 1967 Rugby has been included in the Uniform All-Union Sports Classification. In 1968 the Rugby Federation of the USSR was created, and in 1975 it became a member of FIRA. In 1974 about 10,000 persons played Rugby, including more than 200 masters of sport; among these are the international-class Rugby players B. P. Gavrilov, A. G. Grigor’iants, and I. I. Kiziriia. In 1974, 20 teams took part in the national championships. Between 1961 and 1974, Soviet Rugby players competed in more than 100 international matches.