For those that don’t understand the English mentality for sport, let’s have a lesson. Most people associate the British sporting knowledge with that thing called football. A multi-million dollar industry, the famous clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea are synonymous with the glorious game. However, there is a commonly played game that is a played by real men. It is called Rugby, and it comes in two forms, League and Union.
So let us discuss the two, because for the uneducated, it can seem a little confusing. Firstly ,just the number of players. Rugby Union players feel they need more men. Apparently thirteen isn’t enough (Rugby Union has fifteen) Another popular myth is that the whole idea of Rugby originated at Rugby school and that William Webb Ellis picked up a football and ran with it. There is no evidence to substantiate this but the Rugby World Cup is named after him! The actual first recorded game ever being played was in 1175 on Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday to locals).
So, now for the technicalities, apart from the numbers, Jeremy Guscott, without a shadow of doubt one of Englands best international players is quoted as saying ‘The passing skills in all positions in League are far superior to those in Union’, however, we can safely say that the Union side of the game is slightly more physical. Rucks and mauls are generally not what you want to get involved in. The biggest difference is the fact that Rugby League is limited to six tackles whereas Union is basically ongoing and is more of a continuous play game where possession of the ball is the key to winning the game.
For somebody who is new to the UK and even more to the peculiarities of this very English game, there are numerous places to visit and rugby tours that you can participate in, the home of Union being Twickenham of course,
