Comparison of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(football/soccer) and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

(rugby/rugby football/rugger) is possible because of the games' similarities and shared origins. Rugby union has a number of set pieces, such as line-outs, scrums and rucks that do not have direct equivalents in association football. Association football aims at a more open kind of play, and there is not the same differentiation between forwards and backs. Another major difference is that rugby union, unlike association football, has no goal keeper.

History of early football

The earliest forms of football comprise the common ancestry of both association football and of rugby union. Two of the earliest recorded football type games from Europe include

Episkyros ''Episkyros'', or ''episcyrus'' (, , ; also , , ) was an Ancient Greek ball game. The game was typically played between two teams of 12 to 14 players each, being highly teamwork-oriented. The game allowed full contact and usage of the hands. W ...

from

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

and the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

version

Harpastum , also known as , was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small (not as large as a , , or football-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of ...

, which similar to pre-codified "

Mob Football Medieval football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal football games which were invented and played in England during the Middle Ages. Alternative names include folk football, mob football and Shrovetide football. ...

" involved more handling the ball than kicking it. Other competitive games revolving around the kicking of a ball have been played in a few countries throughout history, such as

cuju ''Cuju'' or ''Ts'u-chü'' ( zh, t=蹴鞠, p=cù jū) is an ancient Chinese football game, that resembles a mix of basketball, association football and volleyball. FIFA cites cuju as the earliest form of a kicking game for which there is docume ...

in China. The rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name ''association football'' was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

. The term ''soccer'' originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an

Oxford "-er" The Oxford "-er", or often "-ers", is a colloquial and sometimes facetious suffix prevalent at Oxford University from about 1875, which is thought to have been borrowed from the slang of Rugby School. The term was defined by the lexicographer ...

abbreviation of the word "association". Within the

English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...

, association football is now usually called ''football'' in the United Kingdom, and mainly ''soccer'' in Canada and the United States. Other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, may use either or both terms. Most of the interplay between the two codes occurred in the nineteenth century, where the "Associationists" preferred a kicking game, and the "Rugbeians" preferred a handling/carrying game. The term "soccer" was formed by analogy to "rugger", a nickname for rugby football. One of the early differences between the two codes, beyond playing style, was that of amateurism and professionalism. While rugby union football remained resolutely amateur until the 1990s (resulting in the split with

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

), association football became professional very early on.

Pitch

Association football

The ''penalty area'' is the large marked rectangular area. The smaller rectangle within it is the ''goal area''. The ''penalty arc'' is the curved line adjoining the "top" of the penalty area. While an association football pitch makes use of arcs and circles, all of the lines in rugby union are straight. Examples of such features include the ''centre circle'' is marked at from the ''centre spot''. Similar to the penalty arc, this indicates the minimum distance that opposing players must keep at kick-off; the ball itself is placed on the ''centre spot''. During penalty shootouts all players other than the two goalkeepers and the current kicker are required to remain within this circle. The arcs in the ''corners'' denote the area (within 1-yard of the corner) in which the ball has to be placed for corner kicks; opposition players have to be away during a corner, and there may be optional lines off-pitch 10 yards away from the corner on the goal- and touch-lines to help gauge these distances.

Rugby union

The field of play on a rugby pitch is as near as possible to a maximum of long by wide. In actual gameplay there should be a maximum of between the two try-lines, with anywhere between 10 and 22 metres behind each try line to serve as the in-goal area. There are several lines crossing it, notably the halfway line and the "twenty two", which is from the goal line. Stricter rules apply to the pitch size for matches between national representative teams. The same maximums apply in this case, but the distance between the two try-lines must also be at least and the pitch must be at least wide.

Goalposts

Another key difference is the goal. Rugby union goalposts consist of two posts with a crossbar but without a net, whereas association football goalposts consist of two posts with a crossbar and a net. The area above the crossbar is used for scoring only in rugby union, whereas in association football, only the area below the crossbar is used for scoring. In association football, the goal is wider and the crossbar marks its height, while the goalposts of rugby union are narrower and extend far above the crossbar.

Association football

In association football, the goal is the only method of scoring. It is also used to refer to the scoring structure. A deliberate attempt on goal is referred to as a "shot". To score a goal, the ball must pass completely over the goal line between the goal posts and under the crossbar and no rules may be violated on the play (such as touching the ball with the hand or arm). See also offside. The goal structure is defined as a frame 24 feet (7.32 m) wide by 8 feet (2.44 m) tall. In most organised levels of play a net is attached behind the goal frame to catch the ball and indicate that a goal has been scored; but the Laws of the Game do not mandate the use of a net and only require that any net used not interfere with the goalkeeper.

Rugby union

In rugby union, the try is seen as the main method of scoring, with additional means being to kick the goal between the two bars for a drop goal or a conversion after a try. A goal is scored in either rugby code by place kicking or drop kicking a ball over a crossbar and between goal posts. In rugby union, a goal scored from the field either as a drop kick during normal play or a place kick after a foul scores three points. In

, a goal scored from the field as a drop kick scores one point, and a goal from a place kick after a foul scores two points. In both codes, a goal scored by place kick after a try (a ''conversion'') scores two points. The kick is taken from a position that is back in line from where the try was scored giving an incentive for teams to try and score near to the centre such that the kick is more attainable. Rugby league goal posts are generally H-shaped, 5.5 metres in width, with the cross bar three metres from the ground

Football as used in association football

Law 2 of the game specifies that the ball is an air-filled

sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

with a

circumference In geometry, the circumference () is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. The circumference is the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to a line segment. More generally, the perimeter is the curve length arou ...

of , a

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

of , inflated to a

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and eve ...

of 0.6 to 1.1 atmospheres () "at sea level", and covered in leather or "other suitable material". The weight specified for a ball is the dry weight, as older balls often became significantly heavier in the course of a match played in wet weather. The standard ball is a Size 5, although smaller sizes exist: Size 3 is standard for

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a Handball goalkeeper, goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands ...

and Size 4 in

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

and other small-field variants. Other sizes are used in underage games or as novelty items. Most modern footballs are stitched from 32 panels of waterproofed leather or plastic: 12 regular

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

s and 20 regular

hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A regular hexagon is de ...

s. The 32-panel configuration is the

spherical polyhedron In geometry, a spherical polyhedron or spherical tiling is a tessellation, tiling of the sphere in which the surface is divided or partitioned by great arcs into bounded regions called ''spherical polygons''. A polyhedron whose vertices are equi ...

corresponding to the

truncated icosahedron In geometry, the truncated icosahedron is a polyhedron that can be constructed by Truncation (geometry), truncating all of the regular icosahedron's vertices. Intuitively, it may be regarded as Ball (association football), footballs (or soccer ...

; it is spherical because the faces bulge from the pressure of the air inside. The first 32-panel ball was marketed by Select in the 1950s in Denmark. This configuration became common throughout

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

in the 1960s, and was publicised worldwide by the

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

, the official ball of the 1970 World Cup. The familiar 32-panel football design is sometimes referenced to describe the truncated icosahedron

Archimedean solid The Archimedean solids are a set of thirteen convex polyhedra whose faces are regular polygon and are vertex-transitive, although they aren't face-transitive. The solids were named after Archimedes, although he did not claim credit for them. They ...

, carbon buckyballs or the root structure of

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The rigid triangular elements of the dome distribute stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy ...

s. There are a number of different types of football balls depending on the match and turf including: training footballs, match footballs, professional match footballs, beach footballs, street footballs, indoor footballs, turf balls, futsal footballs and mini/skills footballs.

Rugby union ball

Rugby union uses an oval ball (a

prolate spheroid A spheroid, also known as an ellipsoid of revolution or rotational ellipsoid, is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters. A spheroid has cir ...

). This makes a difference in the variety and style of kicking. Rugby union is capable of producing a diverse range of kicking styles. The ball used in rugby union, usually referred to as a rugby ball, is a prolate spheroid essentially elliptical in profile. Traditionally made of brown leather, modern footballs are manufactured in a variety of colours and patterns. A regulation football is long and in circumference at its widest point. It weighs and is inflated to . In 1980, leather-encased balls, which were prone to water-logging, were replaced with balls encased in synthetic waterproof materials. The

Gilbert Synergie The Gilbert Synergie is a rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminol ...

was the match ball of the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

Duration

A rugby union game is divided into two-halves of 40 minutes (or shorter for lower-grade games) separated by a half time period of up to 15 minutes in an

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

match. Most notably, a rugby union game will continue after the scheduled end of a half (half-time or full-time) until the ball becomes dead – any occurrence that would have play restart with a scrum or line-out, or when a team scores. This has led to some 'nail-biting' finishes where teams losing by only a small margin work their way towards scoring, and games can go on several minutes over time. The clock is also stopped during substitutions and for injuries, so the referee does not need to add stoppage time.

Advancing the ball and passing

In both games, players must dispose of the ball correctly. In rugby union, this can be by hand (passing, or throw in) or by foot. In association football, this can only usually be done by foot (although the goalkeeper can handle the ball). The term "passing" is used in association football to refer to a ball kicked to another player on the same team, whereas in rugby union it refers to when the ball is passed by hand to another player on the same team. Both association football and rugby union have an offside rule. In rugby union, it is illegal to throw (pass) the ball in a forward direction: a player in a position to receive such a pass would in most cases be offside anyway. In association football, the ball can be passed backwards or forwards to a player on the same team, so long as the player passed to in front is onside.

Tackles and blocks

Rugby union allows full tackling above the knees and below the shoulders, whereas association football explicitly disallows tackling of that sort. Rugby union rules do not allow tackles above the plane of the shoulders. Only the player who has possession of the ball can be tackled. The attacker must also attempt to wrap his or her arms around the player being tackled: merely pushing the player being tackled to ground with a shoulder is illegal. If a maul or ruck is formed, a player may not "ram" into the formation without first binding to the players.

Scoring

Rugby union is played between two teams – the one that scores more points wins the game. Points can be scored in several ways: a try, scored by grounding the ball in the in-goal area (between the goal line and the dead ball line), is worth 5 points and a subsequent conversion kick scores 2 points; a successful penalty kick or a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kick ...

each score 3 points. The values of each of these scoring methods have been changed over the years.

Players

There is no ''goalkeeper'' in rugby union, instead there is a ''fullback'', although the fullback in rugby union is not required to guard a goal in the same way that a goalkeeper does. A rugby union fullback generally fields the long range kicks, and makes long range attacks. Rugby union allows a maximum of 15 players per side on the field at any one time; in the instance of association football, a maximum of 11 players per side is allowed on the field at any one time. These numbers may be reduced through players being sent off, or injuries without replacements. (The latter only tends to occur in the lower levels of each sport)

International competition

Both international association football and international rugby union share at least one thing in common. The original international games of each code were between Scotland and England in the early 1870s. Rugby union has been an international game since 1871, when beat at Raeburn Place in Edinburgh. entered international competition in 1875, and have played matches continuously ever since. The

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

(RWC) itself is of much more recent origin, dating back to 1987, when invitations were sent out to various national sides. Entry has been through qualifying rounds ever since. The first official international football match took place in 1872 between Scotland and England in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, again at the instigation of C. W. Alcock. The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Variants and casual play

Variants of association football have been codified for reduced-sized teams (i.e.

Five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four Outfield#In association football, outfield players and a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper). Other differences from association football ...

), for play in non-field environments (i.e.

Beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

Indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

, and

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

) and for teams with disabilities (i.e. Paralympic association football). Variants of rugby union have been codified for reduced-sized teams (i.e.

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

rugby tens Rugby tens, also known as ten-a-side and Xs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of ten players, typically five forwards and five backs. Matches are much shorter, usually played as two ten-minute halves. Unlike the other tw ...

), for youth training (i.e.

mini rugby Mini rugby, also known as New Image Rugby, is a form of rugby union designed to introduce the sport to children. It uses a smaller ball and pitch than standard rugby, and has eight to ten players a side. Invented in England in 1970, mini rugby was ...

) for play in non-field environments (i.e.

beach rugby Beach rugby is a sport that is based on rugby union. Currently there is not a centralized regulation of the sport as in beach soccer or beach volleyball, but leagues are common across Europe. The sport is particularly popular in Italy, in the B ...

and

snow rugby Snow rugby refers to forms of rugby union that are especially adapted to be played in winter conditions, particularly in deep snow. It is played in Canada, the Kashmir region in India, the Baltic states, Russia, the northern United States, and ...

) and for teams with disabilities (i.e. quad rugby).

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

is a separate code from

, but arose from the same game due to disputes over payment. Both rugby league and rugby union still share many elements in common, and may be confused by a casual spectator.

References

{{Comparison of football codes Association football and rugby union History of association football History of rugby union