The Six Nations 2013, Meat and Muscle

Great Britain takes its rugby mega seriously. For those of you that are not so familiar with the sport, think football, but instead of kicking the ball to your players, it is passed by throwing hand to hand. You can only pass to your players if they are behind you, and the points are scored by touching the ball down on or beyond the opponent's try line. For more information about the history of the game, and for a sweeping generalisation of the the type of people that play it, see this blog post.

So why are we talking about rugby? Well, this Saturday marks the start of the RBS Six Nations, a rugby tournament in which France, Italy, England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland all compete. England, who are currently ranked 5th in the world, will be playing against Scotland, who are currently ranked 12th. The excitement has no boundaries - the pubs are going to be brimming with big burly men with flags painted on their faces and Guinness - glory be!

Click on the image below to see some of the other fixtures that are taking place.

Rugby vs. Football = Man vs. Boy?

History of the sports

Football (AKA soccer) has been around for a very long time. According to our most "reliable" source, Wikipedia, the first evidence of an activity resembling football was documented between the 3rd and 1st century BC, in China!

'Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.[2][3] The influence and power of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread'.

The first evidence of an activity resembling rugby came quite a few years later, in 1883. It's invention was credited to William Webb Ellis while he was a student at Rugby School, a private boarding school situated in the north of England. It was during a game of football that William decided he would break the rules by picking up the ball and running with it. The rest was history!

Man vs. Boy?

What is funny about these games is that nowadays an Englishman is either an avid follower of football or rugby. It is not very common to meet an Englishman who's a fan of both sports. Rugby fans argue that rugby vs. football is like man vs. boy.

In the north of England there are certainly more rugby supporters than in the south. It's probably also true to say that a lot of rugby's fanbase went through the English private school system. Private boarding schools in England tend to prefer rugby as their main sport and consider football to be a game for the working classes (though they'd never admit this, obviously!).

Do they play both sports in your country? If so, which game do you prefer and why?