Rugby league
Rugby League (often also called Thirteen Rugby ) is a sport from the rugby family, in which two teams of 13 players each try to carry the rugby ball past the opponent and thus score points. The aim of the game is to score more points than your opponent during the playing time of 2 × 40 minutes.
In contrast to rugby union , which followed the pure and strict amateur system until the 1990s , rugby league was also a professional sport from the start . It was created in 1895 from the splitting off of 21 Northern English clubs from the Rugby Football Union Association and the re-establishment of the Northern Rugby Union Association, today's Rugby Football League . In addition to its origin in northern England, rugby league is also widespread in Australia, where the league code became the dominant sport in the Sydney region after a similar split in 1908/10.
regulate
The rules of rugby league are very similar to those of rugby union . Important differences are that the pitch is narrower, which forces more contact between the two teams. May continue as in Rugby Union Rugby League higher tackled are what make the sport harder, according to his players. However, after a tackle, possession of the ball is not contested and the team in possession receives it back. After the sixth tackle, possession changes, which means that the ball is usually kicked after the fifth tackle.
Goal of the game
The aim of the game is to score more points than the opposing team. There are basically three ways to do this.
- You can carry the ball past the opposing defense into the opposing in-goal area and place it there on the ground. Such, even so-called, attempt (English try ) has four points. Then the team that made the attempt has the chance to achieve an increase (English conversion ) of two more points. An attempt is made to kick the ball from the floor from any point on the imaginary line (parallel to the touchline) on which the attempt was made to kick the ball between the two posts of the H-shaped goal and over its crossbar.
- Likewise, after a serious violation of the rules, you can "put a penalty on the bars", which also earns two points.
- From the open game, a technically relatively difficult dropkick through the bars is also possible, but it is only worth one point.
player
The 13 players on each team are divided into six forwards ( forwards , jersey numbers 8-13) and seven back- team players ( backs , numbers 1-7). The players with jersey numbers 2–5 are often referred to as “row players” or “three quarters”, which are the opposite of the storm. Precisely because there are no game systems with field-related areas of responsibility in rugby, the team line-up is always given based on the arranged scrum , as in the following sketch:
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Standard situations
Standard situations in rugby league are the uncontested scrum with which the game is restarted after a minor foul and after the ball was out of bounds. Another quasi-standard situation is tackling , with which opposing players can be prevented from gaining space. Likewise, the penalty kick is a standard situation, which results from a serious rule violation (e.g. offside).
Unlike rugby union, there are no alleys or open crowds.
Competitions
The Rugby League World Cup has a longer tradition than the now more popular rugby union , it has been around since 1954. It takes place at irregular intervals. The hosts of the World Cup in 2017 were Australia and New Zealand .
The same applies to the Rugby League European Championship , which was held for the first time in 1935, but only sporadically from the late 1950s to 1996.
New Zealand and Australia play against each other at ANZAC Day every year .
The Australian National Rugby League (NRL), with fifteen teams from Australia and one from New Zealand, is the most popular rugby league club competition and the best league in the world. The annual State of Origin games between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues are considered the toughest and most competitive in the Australian Rugby League.
In the northern hemisphere, the Super League (RSL) is the only fully professional league with twelve teams. The participating teams come from England and France. Since 2006, a French club, the Dragons Catalans from Perpignan, has been participating.
Behind the NRL and the RSL, the semi-professional leagues from France and New Zealand are among the best in the world. The Championnat de France Elite currently has eleven teams, the Bartercard Cup has ten, its sporting quality is somewhat higher than the French league.
In North America, Rugby League is represented by the semi-professional American National Rugby League (AMNRL). It is used as a training league by the NRL, similar to how the American NFL did in American football at NFL Europe .
popularity
Globally, rugby league is not as widespread as rugby union. Sport plays an important role in Australia , which is considered the leading nation (see Rugby League in Australia ). In Papua New Guinea Rugby League national sport, and he also has in France (especially in southern France), New Zealand and England (there especially in the north of the country) significant proliferation.
The development at the beginning of the 21st century in Georgia , Estonia , Malta and Germany , among others , points to the expansion of sport there. Germany has been holding international matches since 2006 (see German Rugby League Association ).
