Rugby union in Paraguay Rugby union in Paraguay Rugby union in Paraguay is a secondary sport. With 4,355 registered players and twenty clubs, the country currently ranks 37th worldwide and 4th in South America. The Paraguayan Rugby Union (Union de Rugby del Paraguay) was founded in 1970, and joined the IRB in 1989. The first recorded game of rugby in the country was in the 1930s, between players from Cerro Porteño and Olimpia (the country´s two biggest football clubs). Further development of the game was sporadic. Asuncion Rugby Club, the country´s first official rugby cluby, was formed in the late 1960s by two Britons,
Rugby union in England rugby at least once a week. Rugby union has often been considered, somewhat pejoratively, a 'posh' game. This may be historically linked to the split between Northern teams and the rest of the rugby fraternity over 'broken time payments', i.e. professionalism. This split led to the development of the separate sport of rugby league. The amateur ethos made it difficult for players who could not afford to take time off work to play away games or to go on tour - an integral part of the rugby tradition. Rugby union in many parts of England is associated with fee-paying independent