ABSTRACT
Football describes a number of codes of match-play, the major one being soccer or association football which is played on a world-wide basis. The next universally popular are Rugby Union and Rugby League, both of which are physical contact sports. National variations of football exist, the best known being American Football, Australian Rules and Gaelic Football. Top players from the latter two codes have met regularly in international competition (Australia versus Ireland) in a hybrid game known as ‘compromise rules’. This has shown closely the similarities between the games, despite the gross differences that appear to a naive observer unaware of the common origins of the various football codes.
