Getting to the Roots of Rugby

The game of rugby has a rather storied and interesting history. While it is popular in certain areas of the world, with other variations (such as American Football) evolving from rugby proving additionally popular. When it comes to specific rugby though, understanding the history, where it comes from and why it is popular in some areas of the world and not others is interesting. It may also help provide pointers for online rugby betting and what sort of rugby betting options there are.

Rugby can be traced back all the way time of antiquities. In both Ancient Greece and later in Ancient Rome, the evolution of sports started early. Many games used a variation of footwork and hands. One game that used a ball was referenced by Antiphanes, a Greek playwright, during the 300s BC. Soccer can date back its early creation to these games as well.

While a game with a ball and using feet and hands did develop before the Common Era, rugby itself didn’t start to come together until the early 1800s. It started as an offshoot of simply playing with feet or by throwing the ball from one person to the next. By the time the 1830s came around, rugby started to evolve into its current state. Before the 1830s, players had to simply toss the ball to another player without being able to move. Once they fought the ball they had to kick or throw the ball to someone else, in a similar manor to Ultimate Frisbee, for those who are familiar with that game. By the 1830s though, the ability to run with the ball became common and it started to develop the game into mort of a sport. An official Rugby School opened up in the UK and the popularity of the sport spread in the 1850s. The first rugby match was then played in 1857.

During this time, the British Empire was spreading out at a rather rapid pace. It had the strongest naval fleet in the world and it claimed territories in different stretches of the globe. While it no longer laid claim to the United States, and Canada had already been founded, England sent men to new territories, including Australia, South Africa, India and others. With them, they brought their own sports to play in the new countries. As rugby only required a ball, it proved to be one of the easiest sports (along with soccer) to move to a different location. At the same time, the British Army did send men over to Canada. This helped the eventual development of Canadian football, which is a mixture of rugby and American football.

American football did take off from original rugby, although individuals in the United States looked to make it a bit more organized. In rugby, when a player is tackled with the ball, it starts a scrum. This is where essentially a circle of the player’s forms and pushes on one another while another player sneaks in to grab the ball. Early American rugby changed this to the “line of scrimmage”, which helped the development of American football and lead it to a different design of rugby.