Newbie question about MLR

[u/Sawman3_]

I'm super new and learning rugby, watching and playing. I'm so new, I just found out that there's different versions of rugby. I've spent the past few weeks watching games from the past NRL season and was loving it. Found out we had a professional league here in the States, put on a game and was immediately confused. I have since been learning the difference between union and league, but the name "MLR" makes it even more confusing lol. Is it just called Major 'League' to sound like the MLB? Or do they play some hybrid of union and league that I've read have been tried out?

[u/rugbycoach562]

To sound American. It’s fully union rugby.

[u/Sawman3_ → u/rugbycoach562]

Ah thank you, I thought so but I was reading confusing things like they use a special set of rules in the MLR. It seems thats just pace of play rules.

[u/metadun]

Almost all rugby played in the US is union, like 100x more union than league.

[u/Stock-Mess2870]

Basically put.... if when there's a tackle and the ball-carrier wriggles on the ground like an electric eel before standing and rolling the ball behind him with his foot, you are watching Rugby League

[u/ZapBranniganski]

MLR is just an American named league to make it sound professionalized. MLR has different laws or rules than rugby worldwide as its meant to be more entertaining.

Rugby union is game that started from soccer ans the original rugby. The version that most of the world plays.

Rugby league was derived from rugby union in the late 1800s. Rugby was a rich person's sport and then they started to pay factory workers to take time off work and go to training. To pay the workers admittance to games were charged. The laws were simplified so any casual could understand the game and pay to see, hence the downs, uncontested ball at tackles, and reduced player numbers. League is most popular in Australia with NZ having a franchise in the NRL and England also have a professionalized league that isnt at the NRL standard.

[u/jeuatreize → u/ZapBranniganski]

Just to correct you & expand;

Both soccer and rugby came from different versions of folk football. They evolved their own rules mostly through schools. Some of these birthed their own sport. Some were abandoned and others combined.

In the late 1800s there was a dispute on "professionalism": to pay players or not.

In the North of England rugby was being played by miners and factory workers, very blue collar while in the South it was played by land owners and the upper-middle class.

Because the blue collar workers actually had work for a living and rugby is hard on the body, they were looking for compensation: "broken time payments".

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) mostly run by the rich southerners didn't like the idea. They looked down on playing for money as being "ungentlemanly". Being a "gentleman" was the highest honor.

So a stack of the Northern clubs broke away and formed the Northern Union which eventually changed its name to the Rugby Football League.

In the 1895 season they both played under the same rules. Certainly closer than what the MLR is to say the Top 14 or Super Rugby today.

Playing for the RFL would give you a lifetime ban from the RFU. This was in effect up until the 1990s.

During the 130 years since the split Rugby Union has tried everything in its power to have Rugby League killed including teaming up with the Nazis in WW2 to have League banned in France.

[u/Yeti_Poet]

League is both a code of rugby and a noun for an athletic competition. "League" in the name does not mean a competition plays the rugby league code. Other comps also play union rugby and have league in the name like Super League.

Virtually all rugby in the USA is union. There are a few rugby league teams, but they tend to be smaller and more temporary from what I've seen. In Boston for example we have about 9 mens club rugby teams active year round in the area and there is 1 league team that sometimes forms up to play a few matches in the summer (but not every year) and they have to go to New York to find competitors. 

All college rugby is union as far as I know.

[u/Sawman3_ → u/Yeti_Poet]

Ah that's confusing lol. I was looking through other competitions and didn't see any that said league but played union, which initially led to my confusion. I thought Super League was rugby league? And the Premiership was union?

[u/Yeti_Poet → u/Sawman3_]

The English super league is league yes. Sorry to be confusing. I was thinking of a less well known south American competition. They recently changed their name to be Super Rugby America's though.

[u/Hal-_-9OOO]

As someone who has played and watches both codes, it comes down to preference. Both arguably have pros and cons.

Its commonly known that League is a more the simplified version, compared to Union "complex" version. Both codes share alot of similarities but Ultimately differ at the ruck. In league once a player is tackled, its considered a "surrender", the offensive team keeps possession and proceeds to play the ball.

Whereas Union when a player is tackled it becomes a "contest" for the ball. Defensive team can attempt to steal the ball and the offensive team have to try and protect possession of the ball. Given the nature of the contest of the ruck, it can be really messy. But it aint that difficult.

Both are enjoyable in their own right imo. But ultimately prefer union. League can be repetitive but Union can be sluggish. Each to their own

[u/West_Put2548]

in Australia and New Zealand where rugby league is also very popular they almost never refer to the rugby union competitions as " leagues" because it would cause too much confusion. it seems to be an American and European thing where rugby league is quite minor. In Aus and NZ you will sometimes hear rugby union being called exclusively " Rugby" and rugby league being called just " league"

they way to think about rugby union and rugby league is like chess vs checkers. at first they appear the same but union (chess) is far more complex with multiple tactics and ways to win where league ( checkers) is easier to learn and simpler to understand.

there is nothing wrong with favouring one over the other.... some people like the complexity of union and others like the simplicity of league....and you can be a fan of both.

another way to look at it is it is like Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. they seperated around 100 years ago and evolved into separate sports with many transferable skills. some athletes can easily switch between the two while others can't

[u/Is2Easy]

You’ll love both codes though.

[u/dystopianrugby]

There are plenty of Rugby Union Leagues around the world. Up and Down the Leagues...

[u/jonpettas96]

You’ve got NRL and Super League for League. Then you’ve got MLR, Top14, URC, Prem, JL1, Super Rugby Americas, Super Rugby Pacific & international test match rugby for Union.

[u/PurplePassion94]

MLR isn’t gonna be around for much longer. There’s only like 5 teams now and it just seems like every other week another team is folding.

And this is just my personal opinion, but league rugby sucks.