Editing Rugby football (section)

=== Home countries ===
In England, rugby union is widely regarded as an "establishment" sport, played mostly by members of the [[upper classes|upper]] and [[Middle class|middle classes]]. For example, many pupils at [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]]s and [[grammar school]]s play rugby union, although the game (which had a long history of being played at [[state school]]s until the 1980s) is becoming increasingly popular in [[comprehensive school]]s.<ref>Phillips, Buchler. [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/99/99ap22.htm Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence to Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820162303/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/99/99ap22.htm |date=20 August 2017 }}</ref> Despite this stereotype, the game, particularly in the [[West Country]] is popular amongst all classes. In contrast, rugby league has traditionally been seen as a working-class pursuit. Another exception to rugby union's upper-class stereotype is in Wales, where it has been traditionally associated with small village teams made up of coal miners and other industrial workers who played on their days off.<ref>Sommerville, D. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Rugby Union. Aurum Press, UK. {{ISBN|1-85410-481-0}}.</ref> In Ireland, both rugby union and rugby league are unifying forces across the national and sectarian divide, with the Ireland international teams representing both political entities.

In Australia, support for both codes is concentrated in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (55% of the population), though rugby league is far more popular. The same perceived class barrier as exists between the two games in England also occurs in these states, fostered by rugby union's prominence and support at private schools.<ref name="Collins Paper">Collins, T. (2005). "Australian Nationalism and Working-Class Britishness: The Case of Rugby League Football." History Compass, Vol. 3, No. 1.</ref>

Exceptions to the above include New Zealand, Wales, France (except Paris), Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Scottish Borders, County Limerick (see [[Munster Rugby]]) and the Pacific Islands, where rugby union is popular in working class communities. Nevertheless, rugby league is perceived as the game of the working-class people in northern England<ref>Collins, T. (1998). Rugby's Great Split: Class, Culture and the Origins of Rugby League Football (London).</ref> and in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland.<ref name="Collins Paper" />

In the United Kingdom, rugby union fans sometimes used the term "rugger" as an alternative name for the sport (see [[Oxford '-er']]), although this archaic expression has not had currency since the 1950s or earlier.<ref>Rugger:
* [[OED]]: Rugger "Slang or colloquial alteration of RUGBY (in the sense of 'Rugby football'). Freq. attrib. rugger-tackle".
* Tony Collins, ''[http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/leeds-leeds-collins-tony.shtml Football, rugby, rugger?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430130033/http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/individual/leeds-leeds-collins-tony.shtml |date=30 April 2017 }}'', BBC sound recording with written transcript, and a comment in prose by Jonnie Robinson, Curator, English accents and dialects, British Library Sound Archive.</ref> New Zealanders refer to rugby union simply as either "rugby" or "union", or even simply "football", and to rugby league as "rugby league" or "league".<ref>The New Zealand Pocket Oxford Dictionary. {{ISBN|0-19-558379-5}}.</ref> In the U.S., people who play rugby are sometimes called "ruggers", a term little used elsewhere except facetiously.