Rugby football is a collective name for the family of team sports of rugby union and rugby league, as well as the earlier forms of football from which both games, as well as Australian rules football and gridiron football, evolved.
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact combat team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league or simply league, rugby, football, or footy, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres wide and 112–122 metres long with H shaped posts at both ends of the field. It is one of the two extant codes of rugby football, it originated in Yorkshire in 1895 as the result of a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to the players. Its rules progressively changed with the specific aim of producing a faster and more entertaining game to appeal to spectators, on whose income it depended. Due to its high-velocity contact, cardio-based endurance and minimal use of body protection, rugby league is widely regarded as the toughest and most brutal collision sport in the world.
The penalty box or sin bin is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence not severe enough to merit outright expulsion from the contest. Teams are generally not allowed to replace players who have been sent to the penalty box.
The displacement of the traditional culture of Nauru by contemporary western influences is evident on the island. Little remains from the old customs. The traditions of arts and crafts are nearly lost.
Football in Australia refers to numerous codes which each have major shares of the mainstream sports market, media, broadcasting, professional athletes, financial performance and grassroots participation: Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union and association football. There are four pre-eminent professional football competitions played in Australia: the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, Super Rugby and the A-League (soccer). By most measures, including attendance, television audience and media presence across the most states, Australian football is the most popular nationally. However, in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, rugby football is overall the most watched and receives the most media coverage, especially the Rugby League State of Origin contested between the two states referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”. In recent times there has been an increase in popularity in Australian football and corresponding decrease in popularity of Rugby union in New South Wales and Queensland. Soccer, while extending its lead in participation rate particularly in the large cities and improving its performance at the FIFA World Cup, continues to attract the overall lowest attendance as well as media and public interest of the four codes.
Australian rules football in Nauru dates back to the 1910s and quickly established itself as the national sport of the country. Today, it has an overall participation rate of over 30%, which is the highest for the sport in the world.
The Geography of Australian rules football describes the sport of Australian rules football played in more than 60 countries around the world. By 2017 more than 26 nations had contested the Australian Football International Cup the highest level of worldwide competition.
Kicking is a skill used in many types of football, including:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sports:
The Samoan national Australian rules football team, nicknamed the Kangaroos, represents Samoa in the team sport of Australian rules football. The team is selected from the best Samoan born players, who are currently mostly players from the Samoa Australian Rules Football Association.
Aaron Edwards is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles, North Melbourne Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Edwards also played for the Frankston Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and in 2022 played in the Southern Football Netball League for St Kilda City.
Professional sports leagues are organized in numerous ways. The two most significant types are one that developed in Europe, characterized by a tiered structure using promotion and relegation in order to determine participation in a hierarchy of leagues or divisions, and a North American originated model characterized by its use of franchises, closed memberships, and minor leagues. Both these systems remain most common in their area of origin, although both systems are used worldwide.
Rugby union in Nauru is a minor but growing sport. The national team have competed in various international competitions, including the Pacific Games.
Rugby union is played in Tuvalu. Unlike most South Pacific islands, rugby union is largely played on an informal basis alongside football (soccer), which is the main sport played by Tuvaluans.
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football include association football ; gridiron football ; Australian rules football; rugby union and rugby league; and Gaelic football. These various forms of football share to varying extent common origins and are known as football codes.
The most popular sport in Oceania varies from country to country. The most popular sport in Australia is cricket, the most popular sport among Australian women is netball, while Australian rules football is the most popular sport in terms of spectatorship and television ratings. Rugby is the most popular sport among New Zealanders. In Papua New Guinea, the most popular sport is the Rugby league.
The sport of Australian football has been called by a number of different names throughout its history. Since 1905, with the formation of the Australasian Football Council, the game has been called "Australian football". The name has been codified by the AFL Commission, as the game's name in the "Laws of Australian football". Historically, the sport has been referred to as "Victorian rules", the "Victorian game", "Australasian rules", the "Australian game" and "Australian national football", "national football", the "bouncing game" and, derisively, "aerial ping pong" as well as several other names. Today, the common names for the sport are "Australian Football" and "Australian rules football" and it is referred to as "football", "footy", "Aussie rules" or sometimes, mistakenly, as "AFL".
Soccer is a minor sport in the island country of Nauru. The country is not a member of FIFA.
Rugby union in Western Australia describes the sport of rugby union being played and watched in the state of Western Australia. The code was first introduced some time in 1868 and was the most popular football code until it was overtaken by Australian rules football in Western Australia in 1885. After a period of recess between 1905-1927 the code was revived and continued to grow throughout the 20th century. The governing body is the Western Australia Rugby Union (RugbyWA).