Football is a gentlemen's sport for hooligans, rugby is a hooligan’s sport for gentlemen, so the old adage goes. Indeed, rugby certainly has a better reputation for good sportsmanship than football. In fact, rugby even has a rule regarding ‘ungentlemanly conduct’, which is a general rule regarding the behaviour of the players. For instance, if the referee passes a judgement and a player acts in a rude or disrespectful way towards him, the ref will be likely to penalise that player’s team of grounds of ‘ungentlemanly conduct.’ It’s funny to think how this would work in football, as this sort of cursing and loutish behaviour is just part of the culture and generally goes unpunished. Here are a few good rugby terms to familiarise yourselves with:
