League and Union?

Question

Can someone explain the difference between Rugby League and Rugby Union?

thanks

Answer 1

i played both codes  for 25 yrs and all the changes are listed but i do agree with snapper league is more of a spectators sport. but why do league players convert to union.

Answer 2

Hats off to Mark aka jack573. Give him the ten points. Nothing to add to his truly awesome answer. Just hope he prefers Union!

Answer 3

until 1895 there was only one kind of rugby...rugby. It was played mainly by the upper class hooray henries at universities, army etc. They were either wealthy or else had wealthy parents or benefactors and could take time off of work when they wanted to play.

Up in the north of england those that played the game were the poor miners and mill workers who could not afford to take time off work to play. The northern union of 32 clubs (many still in existence) i:e Leeds Rhinos who I support had players who could not afford to take time off work. The northern management asked the Twickenham fuddy duddies if their players could be paid broken time payments but the fuddy duddies said no the game should remain strictly amateur.

In 1895 32 of the northern clubs met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield and voted to break away from the rugby football union. Only Dewsbury voted against the breakaway but went along with it.

They were known as the Northern rugby football union. They set up their own league, Yorkshire and Lancashire league and initiated the Rugby football league challenge cup which is still in operation today. The winners of the first two competiotions would you believe were the Gallant Youths of Batley who beat St Helens in the first final. Can you imagine that happening now?

At first there were fifteen players but the wing forwards were disposed of and gradually the rules changed. Line out were abolished in favour of scruns only when a ball went into touch or else went forward. Later the team in posession were restricted firstly to four tackles with the ball and now six tackles. Each time a played was tackled he would stand up and play the ball between his legs to the player behind him.

Other rules were brought into operation whereby a kick to touch had to bounce at least once before going out of play with the exception of a penalty kick which can go out on the full. Both games are now professional but it took the Twickers brigade nearly a hundred years more to go professional and both games are now full time professional.

The scoring system is different in each game. A try in union is 5 points and sometimes you do not see even one in a game in league it is worth 4 points and you see quite a few tries at least. A conersion in both games is worth 2 points. A drop goal in union is worth 3 points and in leage 1 point. A penalty goal in union is worth 3 points and in league 2 points.

When a man is tackled in union a ruck or a maul is formed and both sets of forwards try to win the ball, in league the tackled player gets up and plays the ball to a colleague behind him through his legs.

If the ball goes out over the touchline a lineout is formed and someone throws the ball in the centre of the lines and the forwards jump to win it in league there is a scrum unless the ball went into touch as the result of a penalty then the team awarded the penalty restart the ball with a tap kick and retain posession.

League is the fastest and toughest contact game in the world and there are few injuries. Union is slow and boring with forwards grappling each other to win posession and backs kicking the ball at most opportunity and is quite boring unless you watch either Scotland , Wales or the All Blacks. When boring England won the world cup it was a former Wigan playes from the Hunslet Parkside amateur club in Leeds that scored Englands sole try.

In England union is played all over. League is predominantly a Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria game with one professional team in South Wales and to professional teams now in London. However the ameteur league game is thriving throughout England in many England strongholds.

A union team has 15 players and 7 substitutions so you can change the whole team if you want. Union players seem easily prone to injuries. League has 13 players in a team and four substitutes and there can be twelve interchanges in the game. Both games last 40 minutes for each of two halves.

For many years two men and a dog would watch union but in 1954 over 102,000 league crammed into Odsal stadium Bradford for the replayed cup final and that was a world record until a couple of years ago when Australia took the record with 104,000 people but they cheated. They played two semi finals on the same day at the same stadium so had the fans of four teams in attendance.

I could have quoted the rule books but thought it was better to describe it this way.

One major difference will always be that union is a players games (I played it for 20 years) and league is a spectator sport (which I have watched for 39 years).

Answer 4

Union is a game for Gents played by Gents

League is a game for Gents played by Thugs.

Answer 5

WOW, that explanation from Mark is just awsome.

I am living in NZ for 7 month now and haven't known a lot about rugby before I came here. I picked up some of the differences, but that explanation really is great.

Would give you 10 thumbs up if I could!

Really desrves to be the best answer!

Answer 6

Union is a lot better than league, although league is still a lot better than FOOTBALL!!!

Answer 7

With League there is a six tackle rule where you have to cross the opponents line or hand the ball to them. In Union there are scrums and loads of pushing. League is about finnesse and agility whereas Union is about brute strength and forcing your opponent back towards his own line.

Answer 8

Here are a few items that differentiate rugby league from rugby union.

Playing Field

The playing field for Rugby Union is 100 metres long and no wider than 70 metres wide.

[Edit] The in-goal area does not exceed 22 metres in length.  Therefore, the largest field for Rugby Union would be 144 metres in length. [End edit]

The playing field [pitch] dimensions for Rugby League are:

For Australia, as all grounds are the same size for the NRL:

68 metres wide,

116 metres long. This includes two 8 metre in-goal areas at both ends of the 100 metre field. [1] p2

For England and others:

68 metres wide.

112-122 metres long. The in-goal area can vary from a minimum 6 metres to a maximum of 11 metres. The variance is allowed, as grounds have different sizes, and some are soccer (football) grounds and do not have the space for the in-goal area. [2] p2

Points

Although both union and league use the same scoring methods, they award a different amount of points for each score.

For a try, league gives 4 points, union 5 points. (The ball must have downward pressure and grounded in the opponents in-goal area).

For a conversion, both codes give 2 points. (A kick, the ball is placed on the ground elevated by a kicking tee, or pile of sand, awarded after a try is scored).

Penalty goal, league gives 2 points, union 3 points. (Similar to a conversion except can be taken when given a penalty).

Drop goal (field goal), league gives 1 point, union 3 points. (The ball must bounce off the ground before kicking it).

In all instances of kicking the ball, the ball must go between the posts, and above the crossbar.

The method of play.

In both games the object of the game is to get the ball into the opponents in-goal area and score a try. If scoring a try cannot be achieved, some teams resort to attempting penalty goals (if any penalties are given) and also field goals.

The player with the ball usually runs towards the opponents and attempts to get past them. This can be achieved by passing the ball to other team mates, or being able to beat the player (opponent) in front of you, and sometimes by kicking the ball. Most of the time you get tackled.

Rugby league.

When a player with the ball gets tackled by the opponent the player holds the ball, waits for the opposing players to stop tackling him and then gets to his feet and plays the ball by putting it on the ground just before his feet and using one foot to move the ball backwards so the ball ends up behind him.

A team mate, called the dummy half and usually the hooker (no 9), will get the ball from the ground and pass it to another teammate or attempt to run or kick himself.

The team with the ball gets a maximum of 6 tackles (the amount of times the opponents tackles them) to get the ball to the opponents in-goal area and score some points. The teams usually kick the ball down field on the 5th tackle, so as not to have to give the ball to the opposing side where they get tackled on the 6th tackle.

Sometimes there is a 0 tackle, and the team gets in effect 7 tackles. This is usually after a kick down field from the opposing side.

If the opposing side deliberately plays at the ball, and you get it back, your team gets the 6 tackles restarted or "6 again".

If the ball goes over the side line, the game starts again with a scrum where the ball went over the side line. A scrum is composed of 6 players from each team binding together and resting against each other. The half back (no 7) then feeds (puts the ball into) the scrum and this team usually wins the ball, and the halfback gets it at the back of the scrum.

If the ball is kicked out on the full, the scrum is where the player kicked the ball, not where it went over the side line, unless the kick was after the 5th tackle, then it is a turn over (the opposing team plays the ball as if tackled).

If a player puts the ball down in their in-goal, the team has to drop kick the ball from their own goal line (the line seperating the in-goal from the normal field) to the opposing side. This kick must go 10 metres.

Rugby union.

Instead of a maximum of 6 tackles, union has rucks and mauls. When a player gets tackled with the ball, if he stays on his feet, and his team mates are able to bind (kinda cuddle) him, and there are at least 3 players (the maul is formed with the 3 players. These 3 players can be from the opposing team or team mates) it is called a maul, and the ball is allowed to be passed backwards through the maul. This allows advanced techniques like rolling the maul where the player holding the ball is pivoted around the other players to gain an advantage over the opposing team. The ball eventually gets back to the half back (no 9) who can either run, kick, or pass to a team mate.

If the player with the ball gets tackled and goes to the ground, the tackled player must release the ball, pass quickly to a team mate, or reach over a score a try (if close enough). If any player is on his feet (not on the ground) and a ruck has not formed (at least 3 people), this player may pick the ball up with his hands, or kick it with his feet. If the ruck has been formed, then ball get only be handled by the feet (not be the hand). The ball should be 'rucked' back to the halfback, and he can do whatever he needs to.

If the ball goes over the side line, a line out is formed where some players, can be 3 to 7 of each side, stand in a line perpendicular to the side line. One player, the hooker (no 2), throws the ball in from the side line between the two lines of opposing players. The players compete to catch this ball by lifting people into the air. The team that catches the ball may form a maul or pass (tap) the ball to the half back.

If the ball is kicked out on the full from inside the teams 22 metre line (22 metres from the try line) the line out is where the ball went over the side line, otherwise it is where the player kicked the ball.

If a player puts the ball down in their own in-goal area, the team must drop kick the ball to the opposing side before the 22 metre line. The ball must go over or onto the 22 metre line.

[Edit] I fixed some spelling mistakes, and added some text to make it clearer. [End edit]

Answer 9

always league!!!!! no doubt about it