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Rugby football

This is about the sport 'Rugby'. For the Town by the same name, see Rugby, England and for the school see Rugby School.

Rugby football is a competitive team sport with similarities to American football, popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and Pacific islands such as Tonga, Fiji and Samoa.

There are two distinct forms (or codes) of rugby, namely Rugby League and Rugby Union. In addition to those, Touch Rugby offers a variation on the same theme without injury or some of the complications of traditional rugby.

Rugby supposedly originated in England, when a young man named William Webb Ellis just 'picked up the ball and ran', while playing football at Rugby School. Whilst much doubt has been cast on this story, the trophy for the Rugby Union World Cup was named Webb Ellis in his honour.

An alternative, "posh" name for the sport (though not often heard nowadays) is "rugger". Those heavily into the rugby lifestyle (heavy drinking, etc.) are sometimes referred to as "alickadoos", or less kindly, "rugger buggers".

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