|
Rugby union in Iceland is a minor sport with a discontinuous history. ==History== The ancient Norse had a sport called ''knattleikr''; while this differed substantially from rugby in that it used sticks, it also had a couple of similarities to it in tackling methods and that the ball could be carried. As a purist language, which has almost no modern foreign loanwords, Icelandic has a unique name for rugby, ''Ruðningur''. It is perhaps the only language to use its own name for the sport which is not cognate with "rugby".〔During the Fascist period, Italian adopted the name ''palla ovale'', meaning "oval ball", and Japanese ''tokyu'' meaning "fighting ball".〕 Iceland was formerly a colony of Denmark, and when Denmark was occupied by Germany during World War II, British forces occupied Iceland itself. However, it is not recorded whether they played in Iceland while stationed there. Rugby itself was first played in Denmark in 1931, and did not reach Iceland – likewise, the Danish Rugby Union was founded after Icelandic independence in 1950. Iceland became independent in 1944, and the British turned their base over to the USA which took responsibility for the defence of the island during the Cold War. What little rugby appears to have been played in Iceland seems to have been at the American base at Keflavik, by Americans, with little or no local involvement. However, while there is a large American player base, mainly by dint of a large population, rugby is a minor sport in the USA. In addition, the ?? rugby club had a website in English only. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rugby union in Iceland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|