Accordingly, headgear and shoulder pads worn on the field must bear the IRB's approval mark. Currently, the Board lists only two testing houses that are officially licensed to approve equipment, the British Standards Institution in the U.K. and Critt Sport Loisirs in France. Leading manufacturers like KooGa, Gilbert, Optimum, and Canterbury spend money and realize profits by adhering to these quality standards.
Gone are the days when hundreds of men gathered on city streets to battle in work clothes and boots in melees that often involved the type of brutality and injury that would draw a red card in today's Union matches. The forefathers of today's rugby stars were a hard lot of working-class dogs who fought in lawless mauls and hacked their way to victory in spite of their fellow man.
Today, rugby kits are sportswear sets sold as a unit, often with specific team logos, colors, and branding that identifies teams and countries. Big-name companies like Guinness, Adidas, and HSBC sponsor officially licensed gear and capitalize on sales of merchandise to the legions of rugby fans around the world.
A complete kit consists of long socks, boots, shorts, and two shirts or collared jerseys for home and away matches. Mouth guards are a must, while scrum caps and padding for shoulders, collarbone, and thighs are optional. Shirts and shorts are made of reinforced material to withstand the inevitable tugging and pulling by opponents during competition.
The IRB was established in 1886 to enforce the laws and regulations of the game, as well as develop and promote the sport throughout the world. In the 120 years since then, the organization has expanded rugby's influence to include 116 nations as full or associate members. The 2007 Rugby World Cup sold 2.2 million tickets and drew a combined television audience estimated at 4.2 billion viewers.
Much of the current discussion about such rules and regulations, or laws as they are formally termed by the IRB (in honor of the original draft submitted in 1871 by three ex-Rugby mates who were lawyers), centers around a new set of 10 ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) approved for adoption that are scheduled to be officially recognized beginning in August of this year.
The board sanctioned a one-year trial period for 13 original ELVs since last August, the culmination of a four year study as to whether such amendments were necessary and benefitted the game overall. Six of the ten approved regulations concern how the lineout and the throw-in are allowed to proceed.
The game's most valuable pieces of rugby equipment are the brave souls who sacrifice their bodies for the love of country. Beyond the basic items necessary to play the game, the human element becomes the primary factor in which opponents determine victories through hard work and strategy.
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