Interesting facts about rugby

June 4, 2010 | In: Sport Facts

Basketball was invented by a rugby coach in1891 – Dr. James Naismith was looking for an indoor activity to provide winter conditioning for his rugby players.

Rugby was an Olympic sport in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924. The US won the Gold Medal in 1920 and 1924.

The world’s first international rugby game was played in 1871 between Scotland and England. Scotland won it, but England got their own back by winning at their next confrontation.

This is an outdoor game played in a rectangular field of 100 m length and 70 metres width. At the end of the each side, goal posts of the letter “H” are placed.

Rugby balls are shaped the way they are because the original balls, made by a cobbler near Rugby School, were fashioned from pigs’ bladders. These bladders naturally became oval-shaped when inflated – a grisly process which literally involved blowing into them like balloons.