![Rugby Action - 'Offload' & 'Basketball Pass'!! [CurrieRugby3.wmv]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110411174347im_/http://cdn1.wn.com/vp/i/75/8dc6f525ccb53a.jpg "Rugby Action - 'Offload' & 'Basketball Pass'!! [CurrieRugby3.wmv]")
| Imagesize | 300px |
|---|---|
| Caption | South African Victor Matfield takes a lineout against New Zealand in 2006. |
| Union | International Rugby Board |
| Nickname | Rugger1845 (first written rules) |
| Contact | Full Contact |
| Team | 15 |
| Mgender | Separate competitions |
| Category | Team sport, Outdoor |
| Equipment | Rugby ball |
| Olympic | 1900, 1908, 1920 & 1924 |
Rugby union is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. The code was originally known simply as "rugby football"; it was not until after a schism in 1895, which resulted in the separate code of rugby league, that the name "rugby union" came to be used for the game itself. Supporters of both codes will frequently refer to theirs as merely "rugby" or "rugby football", unless they are differentiating between the two.
The first rugby football international took place on 27 March 1871, played between England and Scotland.
The New Zealand 1905 touring team performed a haka before each match, leading Welsh Rugby Union administrator Tom Williams to suggest that Wales player Teddy Morgan lead the crowd in singing the Welsh National Anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, as a response. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in: the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event.
Points can be scored in several ways: a try, scored by grounding the ball in the in-goal area, is worth 5 points and a subsequent conversion kick scores 2 points; a successful penalty kick or a drop goal each score 3 points. particularly in Asia. Previously, Japan unsuccessfully bid to host the 2011 tournament, narrowly losing to selected host New Zealand.
==Major international competitions== to commemorate France's hosting of the 2007 Rugby World Cup]]
The most important tournament in rugby union is the Rugby World Cup, a men's tournament that takes place every four years among the elite national rugby union teams. South Africa is the current holder, winning the 2007 tournament held in France. They beat 2003 winners England in the final; no World Cup winner has yet retained the trophy. England were the first team from the Northern Hemisphere to win, the previous champions being New Zealand (1987), Australia (1991 and 1999), South Africa (1995 and 2007). Major international competitions are the Six Nations Championship and the Tri Nations Series, held in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively.
The Six Nations is an annual competition involving the European teams , , , , and . Each country plays the other five once. After the initial internationals between England and Scotland, the 1880s saw Ireland and Wales begin competing, forming the Home International Championships. France joined the tournament in the 1900s and in 1910 the term Five Nations first appeared. However, the Home Nations (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) excluded France in 1931 amid a run of poor results, allegations of professionalism (rugby union was officially amateur until 1995) and concerns over on-field violence. France then rejoined in 1939–1940, though World War II halted proceedings for a further eight years. France has played in all the tournaments since WWII, the first of which was played in 1947. In 2000, Italy became the sixth nation in the contest and Rome's Stadio Flaminio, where their games are played, is the smallest venue in the tournament. France are the reigning Six Nations champions, having won a Grand Slam by a final 12–10 victory over England on 20 March 2010. and a number of national and provincial bodies were called "Rugby Football Unions" or "Rugby Unions", such as the Ontario and Quebec Rugby Football Unions. For example, in the Encyclopedia Canadiana, the entry Rugby Football begins by referring to "the Canadian development of rugby union or "English rugger" introduced into Canada in the third quarter of the nineteenth century", but later states that "the Canadian game is a radical departure from rugby union".
Australian rules football has been influenced by a large number of sports, including Gaelic football, rugby football and cricket. Many authors believe that the primary influence was rugby football and other other games originating in English public schools. Tom Wills, the founding father of Australian Rules, also attended Rugby School.
Swedish football was a code whose rules were a mix of the association football rules and the rugby football rules. Some played the game with a round ball, while others played with an oval ball. It is no longer played.
Rugby lends its name to wheelchair rugby (also known as "quad rugby" or "murderball"), but the sport is more strongly influenced by wheelchair basketball, ice hockey and handball than rugby union. Likewise, the sport of underwater rugby, is related to rugby in little more than name.
* Category:Ball games Category:Former Olympic sports Category:Sports originating in England Category:Team sports Category:Football codes
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Currentteam | Cincinnati Bengals |
|---|---|
| Currentnumber | 57 |
| Currentposition | Linebacker |
| Birthdate | February 22, 1978 |
| Birthplace | San Diego, California |
| Heightft | 6 |
| Heightin | 1 |
| Weight | 240 |
| Debutyear | 2001 |
| Debutteam | New York Giants |
| College | Michigan |
| Draftyear | 2000 |
| Draftround | 6 |
| Draftpick | 177 |
| Pastteams | |
| Status | Active |
| Statweek | 15 |
| Statseason | 2010 |
| Statlabel1 | Tackles |
| Statvalue1 | 877 |
| Statlabel2 | Sacks |
| Statvalue2 | 9.5 |
| Statlabel3 | INTs |
| Statvalue3 | 5 |
| Nfl | JON235149 |
| Highlights |
Jones has also played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Orleans Saints. He has also played Rugby Union for English club, Blackheath.
Jones is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and is an initiate of the Epsilon chapter at the University of Michigan.
Jones is also an avid bicyclist, using his fixed gear bicycle to commute to practices and games throughout the year. He also participated in the cycling leg of the Durham Doughman Challenge on Travel Channel's Man v. Food. The challenge was a team quadrathlon consisting of running, swimming, cycling and food eating.
Category:1978 births Category:African-American people Category:African American players of American football Category:American football linebackers Category:Cincinnati Bengals players Category:Living people Category:Michigan Wolverines football players Category:New York Giants players Category:New Orleans Saints players Category:People from San Diego, California Category:Philadelphia Eagles players Category:Players of American football from Maryland
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | George Hook |
|---|---|
| Caption | George Hook on the cover of his autobiography |
| Birth date | May 19, 1941 |
| Birth place | Cork |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Other names | The Alpha Male |
| Education | Rathmines College of Commerce |
| Employer | Denis O'Brien |
| Occupation | Journalist and Radio Broadcaster |
| Spouse | Ingrid Hook |
| Children | Alison, George junior and Michelle |
| Website | www.georgehook.com |
Hook has had a number of jobs, beginning as a temporary clerk for CIÉ, and later becoming a travelling salesman for the Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys). He also ran a catering business for over twenty years. He coached London Irish, Connacht, and St. Benildus College, as well as the American National Team in the 1987 Rugby World Cup.
Hook's radio show on Newstalk 106 'The Right Hook' is a popular evening drive-time programme. Hook appears as a rugby pundit on RTÉ on a regular basis and appeared as a judge on RTE celebrity dancing show 'Jigs & Reels'. He has also been parodied in The State of Us.
In 2005, he published an autobiography, "Time Added On".
In 2009, he visited the impoverished Caribbean island nation of Haiti where he was moved to tears by the plight of the poor people who lived there so much that he organised a recruitment drive to get volunteers to go there on a house building week. The next day a vicious earthquake struck Haiti. After the earthquake Hook was heard to say: "It is a godforsaken place. God has literally forsaken it." Following the January 2010 earthquake. Hook urged his radio listeners to donate money.
Hook is also the patron of 'Comber - for a future without orphanages' an Irish charity working in Romania since 1990, of which his daughter Michelle McGill, is on the board of directors. The charity provides homes in the community for adults with disabilities who grew up in institutions and orphanages
2009 Six Nations:
"My predictions for this match [Ireland vs France] make Gethsemane look like Butlins."
"If this was the Italian Premier league there would be an investigation in the refereeing."
"If they say 'We knew Italy would be hard to beat', I'll vomit on my Jaffa Cakes."
"France haven't been beaten like that since Hitler marched down the Champs-Élysées."
2008 Six Nations:
"Eddie O'Sullivan is the Edith Piaf of Rugby."
"If Eddie O'Sullivan had retreated to the Führerbunker, World War 2 would still be going on."
Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Irish journalists Category:Irish radio personalities Category:Irish television personalities Category:People from County Cork Category:Irish rugby union coaches Category:Irish sports broadcasters
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
