Laws of rugby league - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The laws of rugby league, officially the Laws of the Game, are the laws governing the game of rugby league football

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

. The Laws apply to the play, officiating, equipment and procedures of the sport. The Laws are the responsibility of the Rugby League International Federation

Rugby League International Federation

The Rugby League International Federation is the world governing body of rugby league football. It was formed in 1998 in Sydney, Australia. Its purpose is to, "foster, develop, extend, govern and administer the game of Rugby League throughout the world". Its headquarters are in Sydney, Australia,...

.

Rugby league governing bodies are permitted to vary the Laws for use in their own competitions. This allows countries to cater for their own "priorities, competitors and opportunities", while avoiding the hindrance to progress that a necessity for international agreement might cause. In the past, "pre-tour agreements" between opponents have been employed to deal with differences.

International rugby competitions, including the World Cup

Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

, are often played under rules that differ from the official Laws.

The Laws have undergone significant changes since pioneers of the sport broke away from the Rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

establishment in 1895. Sean Fagan

Sean Fagan

Sean Patrick Fagan is a Sydney, Australia based sports historian, author and journalist, specialising in early Australian history and particular the origins and local development of the popular football codes in Australia. He has written articles for Australian national daily newspapers, numerous...

, a rugby league historian, describes the sport as a "constantly evolving animal, particularly with professional coaches, [with which] the rules have to keep pace".

Laws

The current Laws of the Game and Notes on the Laws are set out in 17 sections:

Section 1: Playing Field
Rugby league playing field
The rugby league playing field, also referred to as a pitch or paddock, is the playing surface for the sport of rugby league football and is surfaced exclusively with grass....
Section 2: Glossary
Section 3: Ball
Section 4: Player and Players' Equipment
Section 5: Mode of Play
Section 6: Scoring
Section 7: Timekeeping
Section 8: Kick-off and Drop-out
Section 9: Touch and Touch in-Goal
Section 10: Knock-on and Forward Pass
Section 11: Tackle and Play-the-Ball
Section 12: Scrum
Section 13: Penalty Kick
Section 14: Offside
Section 15: Misconduct
Section 16: Referee and Touch Judges
Rugby league match officials
Rugby league match officials are responsible for fairly enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match of rugby league football and imposing penalties for deliberate breaches of these Laws...
Section 17: Referee's Signals

The current 17 sections, which include notes, are detailed in fewer than 50 pages and around 17,000 words. The Laws are further clarified through practice and the enforcement by referees of rulings and guidelines issued by their governing bodies. These guidelines, and the referees themselves, may utilise the flexible provisions of the Laws to officiate the Game without the need to amend the Laws, for example Section 15, Law 1 (i) allows a judgement of misconduct to be made against a player for behaviour "in any way contrary to the true spirit of the game". That law was used to combat the incidence of chicken-wing tackling techniques, for example.

Citation
To cite the Laws of the Game and Notes on the Laws published for rugby league football, the following formats have been used:

Australian Rugby League
Australian Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League...

(used in this article): Section, Law (paragraph if applicable), for example the Law banning voluntary tackles is "Section 11, Law 4".
Rugby Football League
Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...

: "Law: 11.4".

When citing previous versions of the Laws of the Game it is helpful to note the date of publication.

Origin

The rules of football as played at Rugby School

Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

in the 19th century were decided regularly and informally by the pupils. For many years the rules were unwritten. In 1845 three pupils at the school, William Delafield Arnold

William Delafield Arnold

William Delafield Arnold was a British author and colonial administrator.He was the fourth son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School. His older brothers included the poet and critic Matthew Arnold and the literary scholar Tom Arnold...

, Walter Waddington Shirley

Walter Waddington Shirley

-Life:The only son of Walter Augustus Shirley, bishop of Sodor and Man, he was born at Shirley, Derbyshire, on 24 July 1828. He was educated at Rugby School under Thomas Arnold...

and Frederick Leigh Hutchins were tasked with writing a codified set of rules by the then Head Schoolboy and football captain Isaac Gregory Smith. The three pupils submitted 37 rules which were approved on 28 August 1845. Another pupil, Charles Harcourt Chambers, illustrated the Rules.

The Rules played at the school continued to develop over time and as pupils left they took with them the game as they had played it. In 1871, the Rugby Football Union

Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

(RFU) was founded with the purpose of standardising the rules for the clubs playing the Rugby-style of football in England. The RFU invited three former pupils, all lawyers, to write the standardised rules, they titled their work as laws. In June of that year the first Laws of the Game were approved.

Unions were formed to govern the game in other countries but the English RFU continued to control the Laws until 1885. In 1884, there had been a dispute over the rules between the English and Scottish unions after a match between the two countries; this led to the formation of the International Rugby Football Board

International Rugby Board

The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

in 1886 with the intention of settling such disputes. The RFU refused to join and in 1887 the members of the new organisation, Ireland

Irish Rugby Football Union

The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where Irish rugby union international matches are played...

, Scotland

Scottish Rugby Union

The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union.-History:...

and Wales

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

, stated that no matches would be played against England until the RFU joined and accepted its rules. In 1890 the RFU joined and in 1892 a significant revision of the laws took place.

Rugby league

From 1895, the laws of rugby league were initially referred to as "Northern Union" rules, after the new governing body, and were a slight variation on the rules of rugby football as played at that time. What began as modifications to make the competition more entertaining to spectators continued until a distinct sport had emerged.

Initially the rules were decided by the Northern Rugby Football Union, today's Rugby Football League

Rugby Football League

The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league football in England. Based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships...

, the governing body for rugby league in the United Kingdom. As the sport spread to around the world, other rugby leagues were established, notably in Australia, France and New Zealand, a more international approach was adopted. In 1948, the International Rugby League Board (IRLB) was formed. Initially the RFL retained this responsibility for the Laws while it was seen how the new Board would develop. The IRLB was invested with responsibility for the Laws later.

During the Super League war

Super League war

The Super League war is the common name given to the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting...

, a dispute over media rights and the control of the game emanating in Australia, the laws of rugby league were altered by the rival factions, the IRLB and its only remaining member, the Australian Rugby League, and the Super League International Board

Super League International Board

The Super League International Board was the international governing body for Super League-aligned rugby league football nations between 1995 and 1998....

and its members.

Since 1998 when the different sides reunited, the Laws have been the responsibility of the Rugby League International Federation

Rugby League International Federation

List of changes to the Laws

The Northern Rugby Football Union inherited the existing laws of rugby football, as played until that time by its member clubs. The NRFU immediately made changes. In addition to the time before 1948 when an international governing body was established, members of the International Federation and its predecessors have had the authority to make significant changes to the Laws applied within their purview.

The following is an incomplete list of changes made to the laws of rugby league since the 1895 schism. Changes to the laws used for senior competitions within the jurisdictions of RLIF members with test nation status are included here.

1890s

NRFU

Rugby Football League

During the inaugural season of rugby league, the rules were changed to require the scrum-half to retire behind a scrum until the ball was out. The scrum-half would now be deemed offside if they moved past their team's forwards while the ball was in the opposing pack. When the game was introduced to Australia several years later, the change was noted by The Sydney Sportsman on 15 April 1908 to "make the game fast and open" as it allowed the side that wins the contest for the ball to mobilise their backs "without interference". Before this a scrum-half had been permitted to follow the ball as it progressed through the packed forwards of their opponents half of the scrum.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

If a team committed a deliberate knock-on a free kick would now be awarded to the opposing team. Previously a scrum would have been formed in such an event.
The scrum-half feeding the ball into the scrum was required to do so from the same side of the scrum as the referee was positioned.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

The options presented to a team as a means to re-start play after the ball had been kicked into touch were changed. The line-out was abolished and replace with the punt-out. The team would now be able to choose whether to have a scrum or a punt-out (also known as a "kick-in"), where previously the options had been to have a scrum or a line-out. A punt-out was taken from the touch-line by a player who could kick the ball back into play, in any direction.
In order to promote the scoring of tries:
- The value of a drop goal was reduced from four points to two points.
- The value of a penalty goal was reduced from three points to two points.
- The value of a goal from mark was reduced from four points to two points.
- The value of a field goal was reduced from four points to two points.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

The location of the re-start after a try had been scored, either a place-kick if the try had been converted or a drop-kick if the try-scoring team was unable to convert, was moved from the 25-yard line of the non-scoring team to the halfway line.
After a player had been tackled a loose scrum was now ordered formed to allow the ball to be brought back into play.

1900s

NRFU

Rugby Football League

Defenders were banned from charging players attempting a place-kick at goal.
The location at which a penalty was awarded against a defender that had obstructed a kicker after the ball had been kicked was changed from where the incident took place to where the ball had landed.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

Should a player go into touch while in possession of the ball play would now be restarted with a scrum rather than a punt-out. The punt-out was retained for those times when the ball was kicked into touch.
The knocking-on rule was altered. While trying to catch the ball, a player would now be permitted to "juggle" it, i.e. the ball could be re-gathered if it had not been caught cleanly in the first attempt to take possession. Previously a "clean catch" had been required, except in instances when the ball moved backwards after touching the hands or arms, because a knock to the ball causing forward movement was classed a knock-on.
Another change to the knock-on rule meant, provided that the ball did not touch the ground, play would continue uninterrupted if a player dropped the ball into the hands of a player on the opposing team.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

The punt-out, or kick-in, was abolished. In the event of the ball being kicked into touch, play would restart with a scrum 10 yards infield.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

Kicking the ball into touch on the full, i.e. without the ball bouncing inside the field of play before going into touch, was no longer allowed for any kick except a penalty kick.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

A team could no longer position more than three players in the front row of a scrum. Previously there had been no restrictions on how many members of a team could join the front row.
The knocking-on rule was adjusted so that in the event the non-offending team picked up the ball after their opponents had knocked-on, and even if it had touched the ground, play would continue.

NRFU

Rugby Football League

The play-the-ball rule was introduced. Previously after each tackle had been completed or a player had been "held" the rules mandated that a scrum
Scrum (rugby)
Scrum , in the sports of rugby union and rugby league, is a way of restarting the game, either after an accidental infringement or when the ball has gone out of play...

be ordered by the referee. These scrums had taken up a significant portion of game time and it was felt that the ball was hidden from spectators too often as a result, diminishing the game's entertainment value. The play-the-ball restored the early rugby football principle that play does not carry on when the player is no longer standing, but that a tackle is complete when a player is "held" on the ground or while on their feet. The Yorkshire Post
Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...

commented on 13 June 1906 that the proposals, "provided in effect for a return to the 'play the ball' rule". In New Zealand, a newspaper column in The Truth on 10 November 1906 while describing the sport to its readers wrote, "the most excellent rule, that was obliterated from the earlier laws of the Union has again been introduced, 'That a player, when collared, must put the ball into play'."
The number of players on each team was reduced from fifteen to thirteen.
If a ball was kicked out of play on the full, a scrum back where it had been kicked from would now be formed.

Laws

Origin

Rugby league

List of changes to the Laws

1890s

1900s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

See also

External links

General