Let's talk Rugby

As I have spoken to you about the king of sports, today I am going to talk to you about Rugby, by making the most of my experience at a European Cup match, and of the fact that the Six Nations tournament has started today. Here in France, Rugby is the second most popular sport, behind the all-powerful Football. It is mostly practised in the south, although there are teams from all over France, even in the smallest of cities, with teams in different leagues at both a regional and national level.

Like Football, the sport of Rugby was born on British soil. It began at a very basic level, very different to today, in an English town called Rugby, close to the city of Birmingham in the centre of England. As it began in England, and its popularity spread during the middle and end of the 19th century, it was best received in countries with a British influence, which were former colonies of the British Empire such as Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. It was also expanded into Europe and Canada, mainly in France, where it is currently one of the most successful sports. However, the history of professional Rugby is relatively short as, although some tournaments such as the Six Nations and matches between regional and national teams have been played for years, the professional league in England and the other European competitions were not created until the nineties. Today's biggest leagues include the English league, the Gallagher Premiership, the French league, the Top 14, and the Pro 14 which includes teams from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and South Africa. Currently at club level there are two competitions in Europe; the Champions Cup, which would be the equivalent of the Champions League in Football, and the Challenge Cup, which would be the equivalent of the Europa League in Football. At a national level, the two biggest tournaments are the Six Nations, which is competed for at European level, and the Rugby World Cup, which has taken place every four years since 1987. Today, the countries in which Rugby is generally most famous, and has the most participation and following are the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, all countries in Micronesia, and others such as Argentina and Japan. It is also present in countries like Spain, Romania, the USA, Canada, some other African countries, Uruguay and Russia.

The Top 14, the French league, is contended by 14 teams through a regular phase of games, where all teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. The four best teams play for the title and the two bottom teams are relegated to the French second division. The top six teams represent France in the Champions Cup, and the teams finishing seventh to twelfth compete in the Challenge Cup. The French league, along with the English league is one of the biggest leagues and these two leagues usually have the greatest influence in the European competitions. The biggest French teams, mostly found in the south of the country are Toulon, Toulouse, and Montpellier for example, while there are currently two representatives from Paris in the league, Racing 92 and Stade Français. There are other big leagues around the world in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa, who organise an international tournament inspired by the Six Nations in which the four of them participate.

Adri P (Source)

The biggest competition at club level is the Champions Cup which has taken place since the 1995/1996 season and the best teams from the top European leagues compete in it. The tournament takes place every year and 20 teams participate in total, spread among five groups, each of four teams. Six teams representing France participate, the same with England which also has six teams participating. The seven top teams from the Pro 14 participate while the rest play-off in order to decide the last place. So far, three French teams, three Irish teams and five English teams have won the tournament, with Toulouse from France and Leinster from Ireland with the most tournament wins, both with 4.

The second most important competition is the Challenge Cup, in which the teams from the main leagues that did not qualify for the Champions Cup participate, as well as Romanian and Russian teams at present. Spain was represented a while ago. However, due to the low level of our league, our teams no longer compete.

The Six Nations, the competition which started this very weekend, with Wales defending their title, has taken place since the year 1883, when it was then called the Four Nations in which England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland all played. Later, in the year 1910, France were incorporated into the tournament, and it became the Five Nations, and in the year 2000, Italy joined, and it became the Six Nations. The only years in which it was not played were during the First and Second World Wars, while the 1972 competition was not completed. Each team plays five matches, two at home and three away, or three at home and two away, depending on how the fixtures are made up, and each team plays each other.

On the world stage, we have the Rugby World Cup, which has been played since 1987 when Australia and New Zealand organised it, with New Zealand beating France in the Final. Since then, the tournament has been held in England, South Africa, Wales, Australia, France and New Zealand. The winners are in the following order: New Zealand, Australia, South Africa as hosts, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand as hosts and New Zealand. It's worth mentioning that France have lost in the final three times, meaning that they have never won the Rugby World Cup. The last one in 2015 was held in England, and the next one will be held in Japan in 2019. The tournament gets bigger every edition and can compare to the number of followers of the Summer Olympics and the Football World Cup.

New Zealand All Blacks (Source)

In our country it is a minority sport and the league is not professional. Internationally, the Spanish team participates in the second-tier European competition, against teams like Portugal, Romania and Russia. Valladolid has two teams in the first division: VRAC Quesos Entrepinares and Centrasa El Salvador. The national league is comprised of teams from all over Spain.

Spanish Rugby (Source)

Some of the best players in history, who also helped grow the sport, include Jonah Lomu, Tana Umaga and Richie McCaw, all born in New Zealand. Lomu is considered the best player of all time by many, with Jonny Wilkinson (England), Brian O'Driscoll and Ronan O'Gara (Ireland) and the South African Bryan Habana among other top players.

Jonny Wilkinson

There are also several films with Rugby as their main theme, or where it features in the background, with “Invictus” perhaps the most popular, others including "Forever Strong", "This Sporting Life" and the French film "Le fils à Jo". In terms of literature there are many different books on the theme of Rugby, written from many different points of view, but with Rugby as the main theme.

If we're talking about Rugby, then we also need to talk about the Third Half. This occurs after every Rugby match when the home team invite the away team for a drink, (normally pints of beer), in order to make up for any 'disagreements' during the game. So, if anything, Rugby can pride itself on being a clean game, despite its hard nature, in which winning is not of sole importance. As the saying goes: "Football is a sport for gentlemen, played by hooligans, and Rugby is a sport for hooligans, played by gentlemen. A dignified sport to watch and of course to admire.

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