February is a big month for rugby fans with two major competitions kicking off. England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy will battle it out for the Rugby Union 6 Nations Championship, a title which allows the winner to proudly call themselves the best in the Northern Hemisphere going into this year’s World Cup. Meanwhile, teams from England, Wales and France are preparing to get stuck into another Rugby League Engage Super League season – a gruelling nine-month contest between 14 teams, climaxing in a grand final at Old Trafford in Manchester.
“Wait a minute! I thought rugby was rugby, what’s this Union and League thing you speak of?” sports amateurs may ask. “I’ve seen on TV, big blokes rolling about in the mud, fighting over a ball that’s shaped like an egg. You mean I might have been watching two different games and not even realised it?”
Ah- yes, perhaps you have. And before you say it all looks the same, it really is not! People in places like Gloucester, Wigan, Leicester and Hull get very precious about which is better.
To spare you the inconvenience of having to ask a diehard of one of the two codes to explain, here are a few basic points for starters:
Rugby Union has 15 players per team while League has 13.
The points awarded for scoring are different – you get 5 points for a try in Union, 4 in League.
The Union season runs from September to May; the League season from February to October.
In League a team is permitted to attack for as long as their opponent can complete 6 tackles, after which they either score, use their own creativity to win another six tackles or, as is often the case, hand over possession to their opponents.
In Union there is no tackle limit, meaning teams must win possession during open play. In both codes, possession can also be given away through penalties being awarded for rules not being adhered to.
Overall, Union’s international competition is far stronger, with a greater number of countries expected to have a chance at winning the 2011 World Cup in Union than will for the League World Cup in 2013.
Although League has a top level professional team in London and the game is widely played in the Capital, London, like much of England south of Sheffield, is a Union country. However, go north into Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria and it’s very different. Cross the border into Scotland and League is nowhere, with Union fighting football for attention.
Geographical divide in history
Geography is a very important part of the introduction to Rugby and the very reason why we have two forms of the sport at all.
In the 19th century, teams from North and South were happily competing with each other. But those playing the game in the South were often from public schools and privileged backgrounds and on the whole wealthier, which means they could play on a Saturday and not be concerned with losing a day’s pay. Clubs in the North, however, would be fielding teams predominantly made up of minors, factory workers and other working class professions. Players were faced with the dilemma of having to take time off work in order to play Rugby.
The Northern clubs took the bold step of paying their players by way of compensation for the money they were losing for having to take time off from the day job. Bradford and Leeds were the first to be charged with going against the spirit of the game. To say this didn’t go down well with the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the Southern-based rulers of the sport, is an understatement. The RFU believed the game should remain amateur and so the Northern Rugby Football Union was founded in 1895, followed by the creation of Rugby League. Union eventually turned professional in 1995.
For the most part, Union is the dominant code globally, except in Australia, New Zealand and some regions in France, where League is more popular.
London – a blessed land for rugby lovers
Those of us in London are lucky enough to be able to see top level professional Union and League. Not only do we have England Union internationals at Twickenham and League’s Challenge Cup Final at Wembley, but The Stoop in Twickenham is home to the duel code club Harlequins. As one of the most famous names in club Rugby Union, Harlequins have existed since 1866, although in their early years they were called Hamstead.
The history of Harlequins Rugby League has been far shorter and much more difficult. Founded in 1980 as Fulham, the club has moved around the Capital, changing their name on a number of occasions. They have had their current name and home since 2006.
If you’re prepared to travel out of London then Union clubs London Irish can be seen in Reading, Wasps in Wickham and Sarrisons at Vicarage Road in Watford. The latter play selected home games at Wembley Stadium where crowds of over 50,000 gather.
League names to look out for include London Skolars (who play in National League 2), plus ammetre sides South London Storm, West London Sharks and Greenwich Admirals, all of whom have seen players move on to Harlequins and in the case of Greenwich, England. There are also countless Union clubs to catch a game at, including Esher, Richmond and London Scottish.
This article was written for
www.thefirstpint.co.uk
