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 schools such as Stonyhurst College or Sedbergh School who have historically provided many of the national players. It is also commonly played at Grammar schools, but Comprehensive schools in much of the country tended not to play the game, although this is no longer the case. Whilst rugby union was officially an amateur sport, many rugby union players came to play rugby league. In recent years this trend has reversed and some rugby league players have crossed codes to play union. Due to the split with most of the Yorkshire and Lancashire clubs, rugby union remained more popular in the