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League, Union.
Either way, a certain reader wants the game explained.
Well, Rugby Union is the game they play in Heaven.
And Mark Coyne scored the best try ever in the history of the game of Rugby League.
Can anyone esle help out with some of the finer points apart that one can’t pass forwards and a good tackle is just that… and you AFL fans have no idea.
The Tizona Group 
January 12, 2009, 7:04 am at 7:04 am
Rugby Union is the original. It was invented in 1823 at Rugby School in England by a boy named William Webb-Ellis who, during a soccer match, “picked up the ball and ran with it”. The World Cup Trophy is named in his honour.
It is played by 15 men on each side (eight forwards and seven backs) on a pitch the same dimensions as a soccer field over a period of two 40 minute halves. There are two “H” shaped goalposts at either end and the line running under those posts is called the try-line. The objective is to physically place the ball on the ground over your try-line – thus scoring a try and earning 5 points. After scoring a try, the successful team is then given an opportunity to earn an additional two points by kicking the ball through the top part of the “H”. This is called a conversion. A try can therefore earn a potential 7 points, depending on the accuracy of the kick.
The ball can only be passed backwards and may not be dropped (well, it can be, but it can’t go forward, only backwards). The challenge therefore, is to maintain forward momentum against an opponent who is physically trying to prevent that, whilst only being able to pass backwards.
When a player is tackled, the ball is open for the opposition to try to remove it. If a tackled player falls to the ground, he must release the ball. Until it is free of the mêlée (called a ruck) that occurs around a tackled player, it cannot be picked up by hand, and must be “rucked” by the feet. This is generally an uncomfortable experience for the tackled player.
If the ball goes over the side-lines (called touch-lines) it is given to the side that didn’t put the ball out, or into touch as it is called. The two forward packs (generally the bigger players) line up one behind the other, one metre apart, and perpendicular to the touch-line. The side with the ball then throws it straight between these two lines, and possession is gained by jumping for the ball. This is called a line out. Other players in the line out may assist the jumper, but no player may cross the centre line. The advantage to the side throwing the ball is that they know how far down the line the ball will be thrown, and are better placed to jump for it.
If a penalty is given, a number of things may happen depending on the nature of the offence. A scrum is when the two forward packs bind together to form a shape that is similar to the human pyramid, but horizontal, the two extra forwards bind loosely to the outside, and ready themselves to rapidly break and chase down the ball carrier once it is free of the scrum, either to tackle him or to support him, depending on who wins the scrum. The two packs then face each other from one metre apart with the three men at the front able to touch the oppositions shoulder. On a command from the referee, the packs surge forward and try to push each other backward. The ball is placed in the centre, and the two men in the very centre of the scrum will try to hook the ball with their feet, and roll it back into their own half of the scrum. This is why they are called hookers.
A penalty may also result in a free kick, or indeed if play is still ongoing and the offence was committed against the attacking side, a referee may decide to play advantage. This means that play continues and should another offence occur, or play get bogged down, the original penalty will be enforced. It is a bit like a suspended sentence. Should the attacking team continue without molestation, the advantage ends.
I won’t go into offside and rules about kicking tactically into touch. Suffice to say that Rugby is a very tactical game which requires thought and leadership.
Rugby League is a poor facsimile. It is a simplified version of Rugby designed to appeal to broader base. It played on a field of the same dimensions and characteristics. It has only 13 players per side and has done away with the line out. When a player is tackled, he stands up, rolls the ball between his legs to his teammate and play continues for a count of six tackles, and then the ball is handed over to the opposition. A try is only worth four points in Rugby League. The scrum still exists, but players don’t actually contest it. The packs will just lean against each other, and the ball is fed halfway back into their own side of the scrum so that no contest for the ball is possible.
Rugby Union is played internationally and has a hotly contested World Cup tournament every four years. The most powerful teams are NZ, South Africa, Australia and England, although France, Argentina, Ireland and Wales are capable of toppling the giants on the day. Rugby League is really only played seriously in Australia and in parts of the UK. They have a World Cup, although it is again a poor facsimile. Despite the fact that Rugby League is the dominant code in Australia, and is only played by passed-over All Blacks and second rate players in NZ, they still managed to win the last Rugby League World Cup.
Any questions may be directed to Ash, who as a proud Australian will I’m sure be able to opine at great length with regard to the history of Rugby in Australia, the rise of the Wallabies through the seventies into the late nineties and early naughties, and the failure of the Wallabies at the last two World Cups. I have reached the end of my brief sabbatical with internet coverage, and will now return to the wilds.
January 12, 2009, 9:18 am at 9:18 am
Prefer Union, enjoy League, baffled by gAyFL.
Then someone said, “here, watch some NetBall”.
Headed back up this way a few days later. Still shaking the head over NetBall. Strange, very strange.
January 12, 2009, 10:27 am at 10:27 am
Richard Sharpe, you are a god.
Skul, understand your sentiments on netball. It bungs their knees up, too. But my guess is you know that already. As for gAyFL, the Viccies still can’t get over the FACT the Brisbane Lions won three premierships in a row, and we’re finalists in a fourth, to be the most successful AFL team this century (spitefull basstards, they’re at pains to even admit we beat Collingwood).
And what better time than now (and whomever coined the term ‘morning’ should have his grave resumed and be shot [not a morning person]) to note that the Brisbane Broncos, despite relative ‘newness’, are the most successful team in the ARL competition.
No worries. A mate’s daughter, who lives in Vic, is actually a QUEENSLANDER.
January 12, 2009, 10:31 am at 10:31 am
PS And her team won the last three State of Origins.
January 12, 2009, 10:48 am at 10:48 am
Both games are brutal, but union is known as “the game they play in heaven” because of a higher incidence of spinal injuries.
Top quality union can be great but has been spoilt in recent years by too many rules. League has been a professional sport for a longer time, and has been designed to be freer flowing.
League is typically played and supported by working class types, and union by rich people in Brisbane and Sydney, but also has a traditional following in country NSW and Queensland.
Followers of both codes agree that AFL is gay.
January 12, 2009, 2:49 pm at 2:49 pm
Careful!
January 12, 2009, 2:59 pm at 2:59 pm
Hey, it’s not like there’s anything wrong with that.
Anyway, I’m sure we can all agree that Carlton are the worst team in the AFL.
January 12, 2009, 3:58 pm at 3:58 pm
Carlton are the best team in the AFL. Far superior to the Lions, who are inferior even to Collingwood.
January 12, 2009, 4:44 pm at 4:44 pm
Ohh, now that’s a bit below the belt, mate.
Anyway, the numbers speak for themselves, so nyeh.
January 12, 2009, 5:07 pm at 5:07 pm
I think it was a completely appropriate comparison Bingbing. The Lions suck worse than Collingwood.
January 12, 2009, 5:41 pm at 5:41 pm
It’s all moot anyway as Rugby, in either form, is the far superior game.
January 12, 2009, 5:56 pm at 5:56 pm
And yet along came soccer, and made rugby it’s bitch…
January 12, 2009, 6:23 pm at 6:23 pm
Read Richard’s explaination. You’ve done an Al Gore and put the cart before the horse.
It [Rugby Union] was invented in 1823 at Rugby School in England by a boy named William Webb-Ellis who, during a soccer match, “picked up the ball and ran with it”.
January 12, 2009, 6:40 pm at 6:40 pm
Well, there’s a surprise, an Englishman cheating at soccer!
January 12, 2009, 6:58 pm at 6:58 pm
I don’t know much about the merits of either sport to those who haven’t played or grown up with them, but Richard nails the rules pretty well.
I played League until I went to high school, then at dad’s insistence, played union (dad got his chance to go to a fairly posh school because of Rugby).
I’ve played both since with military teams, and I guess it depends on the referee. If they let the game flow, Union wins hands down for sheer combativeness. If not, then League is the more fast running of the two.
Dad used to define the two as ” One is a gentleman’s game played by thugs, the other is a thug’s game played by gentlemen.”
How having a 20 stone Maori tag the crap out of you at the bottom of the ruck was supposed to turn me into a ‘gentleman’ I don’t know. Fun but. You gotta love a fight. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 7:44 pm at 7:44 pm
Ashgrove running rugby is a pretty good style, not that I went there.
Played Union in high school and late primary school. Admittedly not very well but I had a ton of fun – winger (read: hospital passes).
Which school if you don’t mind me asking?
January 12, 2009, 7:49 pm at 7:49 pm
OK Ash, you win (but only because if I continue, I know that if I ever dare set foot back in Australia, I’ll get a thigh high wedged so far up my arse I’ll be wishing the First Fleet had sunk at Portsmouth) – Ma’am.
January 12, 2009, 7:52 pm at 7:52 pm
Saint Josephs, near Rockhampton was dad’s (went to school with all the polie’s kids).
He was very good at Rugby, myself, less so. I played fullback and believe me, I know what you mean about ‘hospitals’. 🙂
For me, sad ol’ Saint Stan’s, but at least it went co-ed with Marion’s girls college the year I started. Oh, and to Patty Gilligan, Captain of the Netball side, if you are still out there, I know I drooled on you, but it was my first kiss, Ok? 🙂
January 12, 2009, 7:57 pm at 7:57 pm
You can be incredibly perceptive Bingbing…
January 12, 2009, 7:57 pm at 7:57 pm
When you mentioned St Jospeh’s, I immediately thought of the one in Brisbane.
JFTR, I attended that other school down the road. 😉
January 12, 2009, 8:19 pm at 8:19 pm
bingbing,
Nope, Dad went to the real ‘cowcockies’ school with all of the rich kids. Saint Joe’s near the beach. God knows if its still running or not.
Just down the road from the one in Brisvegas? You weren’t a CBC boy were you?
January 12, 2009, 8:28 pm at 8:28 pm
BBC, you mean? Nope. Wouldn’t have caught me dead in a boater.
Nah, closer still to St Jo’s… literally just down the road… or should I say ‘terrace’. 😉
January 12, 2009, 8:44 pm at 8:44 pm
Ah, yep, know what you mean now. I don’t know how you went, I would have probably been in Basic when you started High School.
Heaps easier than High School for me, and no Patty to deal with. She was 4 inches taller than me, for Godsakes. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 9:08 pm at 9:08 pm
High School was a cinch and a blast… perhaps too much of a blast (especially uni) considering the high-powered executive position I’m in now… not.
Basic would have killed this word (t)wit.
Something about the same war different fronts but the proper sentence was so full of pap, I nearly puked.
January 12, 2009, 9:21 pm at 9:21 pm
It’s cool mate, Uni would have killed me. I shared a house during my first posting to Brisvegas with four girls, all students. I only moved in because my sister moved out. Terrible. No shower curtain, nor lock on the bathroom door (it was an old QLDR in Auchenflower). Every morning, different naked chick and the ‘oops, sorry,’ . God bless that landlord. I ended up engaged to one girl, but that’s a different story entirely.
Although I still remember the hippy chick having friends stay, being coaxed in and offered beer if I’d stay and ‘make them laugh’ and my girlfriend of the time poking her head into their room and yelling “Get your own, he likes people who shower!” She was studying law. Couldn’t change a lightbulb though.
Bestest thing about the place, if you sat on the roof with binos you could see Ballymore, and watch the Rugby free. My best mate and I rigged a rope and bucket so the girls could send us beer up, and take away the empties.
So as you can see, I was extremely disciplined in the early years of my military career. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 9:51 pm at 9:51 pm
School of hard knocks I see. 😉
January 12, 2009, 10:02 pm at 10:02 pm
Dude,
I rose up through the “Sandpit of Serious Grazed Knee”, “The Primary School of Punishment” to the “High School of Hurt”.
Then Basic, “The School of Yep, If You Say So”, Trade training at the “Ok I Ain’t Gonna Do This Forever”Academy, followed by the “We Don’t Feed You, Treat You Like A Redheaded Stepchild, Make You Do Stupid Things Like Jump Outa Planes N Stuff, But Now You’ve Passed We Love You, Here’s Some Serious Arty, Go Fuck Someone Up For Your Country University”.
My best mates are all fellow graduates, and hey, it suits me. I would have been the worst lawyer ever, I would have lost to Jeremy Sear, for Godsakes!
Thing is mate, chicks dig scars, skin grows back, adrenalin is good for you, and hey, free medical and dental. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 10:05 pm at 10:05 pm
Nice work Rich, but there are a couple of bits you got wrong:
“Until it is free of the mêlée (called a ruck) that occurs around a tackled player, it cannot be picked up by hand, and must be “rucked” by the feet.”
Not entirely true, any player involved in the ruck who remains on his feet may use his hands to try and remove the ball. Assuming he entered the ruck from behind the rearmost feet of a team-mate of course. Entering the ruck from the side will give the other side a penalty. Those who are ‘off their feet’ may not use their hands to move the ball, indeed the tackling player must roll away from the ball carrier to allow him to dispose of it.
Rucking with the feet is generally reserved for a tackling player who fails to roll away from the ball, usually to try and convince the blind maggot (ref) that the ball carrier has failed to release the ball. When one considers many rugby players wear metal studs on their boots for better traction, one can imagine the kind of injuries a bloke who is 6’8″ and 120kg (264lb) can inflict.
“The ball is placed in the centre (of the scrum), and the two men in the very centre of the scrum will try to hook the ball with their feet”
This used to be the way it was done, but scrums these days, even at international level, often resemble a league scrum with the ball being fed straight to the hooker. I.e. no contest is possible.
“Both games are brutal, but union is known as “the game they play in heaven” because of a higher incidence of spinal injuries. ”
LOL Marg, you might just be right.
“Top quality union can be great but has been spoilt in recent years by too many rules.”
Right again, but made worse by the fact that recently rugby has followed AFL by changing the rules at the start of every fucking season…
“union (is played and supported) by rich people in Brisbane and Sydney, but also has a traditional following in country NSW and Queensland. ”
Dont forget Perth my dear, which Australian Super 14 team has the most members? Thats right. The Force had more members than any other Aussie 14’s team BEFORE they even started their first game.
“Followers of both codes agree that AFL is gay.”
Also true, that reminds me of my favourite joke on footy fans/players:
‘Q: Why do rugby players wear such loose shorts?
A: So we can get our fat cocks out the bottom.’
“I guess it depends on the referee. If they let the game flow, Union wins hands down for sheer combativeness.”
Too bloody right 186 (rounding up).
Cricket is a gentlemens game played by gentlemen; Soccer is a gentlemens game played by thugs; League is a thugs game played by thugs; Union is a thugs game played by gentlemen.
Thats the way my old man says it.
January 12, 2009, 10:18 pm at 10:18 pm
This used to be the way it was done, but scrums these days, even at international level, often resemble a league scrum with the ball being fed straight to the hooker. I.e. no contest is possible.
Unless it involved Dunning. But to be fair, he received too much of a hard wrap for that.
18…6 (good point, WOZ), just by the off chance, it wasn’t 3RAR was it? It it was, a certain name might ring a bell.
January 12, 2009, 10:19 pm at 10:19 pm
Bing,
No, we were a mite more ‘special than them’. 🙂 Did live nearby though.
January 12, 2009, 10:26 pm at 10:26 pm
And by ‘special’ I don’t mean we licked the bus windows, or anything. Kay?
The Meatbombs are good guys, but no. Not this little Black Duck (hint)
January 12, 2009, 10:33 pm at 10:33 pm
I already know. He called them catsplats. Bloke (his baby bro [he’s serving now too, BTW] and I are old mates) tried out for your office job… never found out whether he made it.
January 12, 2009, 10:38 pm at 10:38 pm
It’s a hellava office dude, and you are better off not in it sometimes. Stupid thing is, I can’t wait to go back. Everyone has some addiction I guess. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 10:48 pm at 10:48 pm
That said, if I do go away again this year, it’s my last. I made a deal with the Devil (read, wife). And I always keep my word. One last trip.
As I said, and WOZ mentioned, ‘combativeness’. I’m not the type to pick a fight in a pub, but that spirit doesn’t go away easy. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 11:18 pm at 11:18 pm
Meatbombs? Catsplats? Please explain.
If you’re as special as I think you’re implying 186, we unloaded one of your new whips the other week. Very nice and very quiet, just dont forget your snorkel if you go swimming.
January 12, 2009, 11:27 pm at 11:27 pm
WOZ,
It’s not meant to be derogatory, Oh well, actually it is, it’s just that those guys spud in (ie; hit the ground hard on jumps). A lot of our guys came from that unit, so I guess I shouldn’t bag it.
There was a lot of rivalry, when my old unit came into existence, that’s all. Now most of our combat casualties come from it.
It ain’t easy being green.
January 12, 2009, 11:33 pm at 11:33 pm
Ah ok then, never mind about the comment re your new whip, thought you were more beige than green…
January 12, 2009, 11:47 pm at 11:47 pm
WOZ,
Wrong coast babe. Got a lot of mates there, but we like it green. 🙂
January 12, 2009, 11:52 pm at 11:52 pm
You getting the new wagons, or you sticking with the land rovers?
January 12, 2009, 11:56 pm at 11:56 pm
WOZ,
I’m gone for the next few months, don’t really know. I won’t be back down until next year. This year, I go with the real army, unfortunately.
From what I hear, East coast gets the same as West.
January 12, 2009, 11:56 pm at 11:56 pm
ESL teacher? *Gulp.*
Anyways, try explaining the correct pronunciation of the ‘g’ in ‘beige’.
It’s the “D3” one.
January 13, 2009, 12:08 am at 12:08 am
All good, but them new ones are pretty flash to my untrained truck driving eye. I had about a hundred questions going through my head, but I only had time to ask one.
Let me know if you get your hands on one, I’d really like to pick your brains on it.
October 13, 2009, 10:06 pm at 10:06 pm
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