Burbank Middle School

RUGBY!

Burbank Middle School has joined five other schools in participating in a schedule of Rugby games leading up to a Championship Tournament in April, 2025. The schools participating are:

• Mayerland
• Biotech Academy
• Reagan Middle School
• Burbank Middle School
• Long Academy 
• Edison Middle School

Games will be played in the afternoon at Settegast Park on 3000 Garrow St, Houston TX 77003. There are two teams of boys and girls per school and there will be four 20-minute games each day.

A Brief History

Rugby as an official game began at Rugby School in England back in the early 19th Century. Its origins can probably be found in a primitive form of football called "harpastum" which was played by the Romans. In this game, two teams competed to throw a large ball into the opposing team's net while fighting for possession of the ball. According to the article in Wikipedia,

"Irishmen during the middle ages played a game called "caid", carrying an inflated bladder and using arched trees as goals. The Welsh played a game using a wooden ball called "cnapan".  Frenchmen played "soule" and Georgians played "lelo"."

All these games eventually got the name "football" and the first game played that was actually called "rugby" happened at a school called Rugby School in 1803. The first set of official rules was published in 1845. The game was imported all over the world, including to the former American colonies. The first official Rugby Game played in the United States took place in 1874 between Harvard and McGill Universities in Boston, Massachusetts. Rugby has become a very popular game worldwide.

How to Play

• There are 15 players on each team.
• The object of the game is to ground the ball behind the opponent's try line or in-goal area.
• The ball may be either kicked or carried forward towards the objective.
• The ball may be kicked or carried in any direction in the course of play. 
• It is not allowed to pass the ball forward. It can only be thrown or handed over backwards.
• Forward movement with the ball must be either by kicking or by carrying the ball.
• Tackling is allowed only against the players in possession of the ball. However, Burbank and the rest of the schools will be playing Flag Rugby, so physical contact will be minimal.

We're very excited about this new game in our school! Check out our game schedule below and go out and support our teams!