Rugby football (usually just "rugby") may refer to two current sports, either rugby league or rugby union, as well as a number of sports through history descended from a common form of football developed in different areas of the United Kingdom.
A ball-game resembling rugby football was a game played by ancient Greeks called episkuros (Greek: επίσκυρος). In Wales such a sport is called cnapan or "criapan," and has medieval roots. The old Irish pr...
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Rugby football (usually just "rugby") may refer to two current sports, either rugby league or rugby union, as well as a number of sports through history descended from a common form of football developed in different areas of the United Kingdom.
A ball-game resembling rugby football was a game played by ancient Greeks called episkuros (Greek: επίσκυρος). In Wales such a sport is called cnapan or "criapan," and has medieval roots. The old Irish predecessor of rugby may be caid. The Cornish called it "hurling to goals" which dates back to the bronze age, the West country called it "hurling over country" (neither should to be confused with Gaelic hurling in which the ball is hit with a stick called a hurley or hurl, not carried), East Anglians "Campball", the French "La Soule" or "Chole" (a rough-and-tumble cross-country game). English villages were certainly playing games of 'fute ball' during the 1100s. English boarding schools would certainly have developed their own variants of this...
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