Fair catch catch is called a "mark"; see mark (rugby) and mark (Australian football) for more information (however in Australian Rules Football the player is not protected from the opposition team while attempting a mark). Fair catches featured in some extinct forms of football, and they have been abolished in other modern codes. In Rugby league the defensive player attempting to catch the ball cannot be tackled whilst in the air, though the attacking players can contest the ball by attempting to catch it themselves. A player who successfully catches the ball is able to be tackled only once they have landed
History of rugby union in the United States financial incentive to play full time in gridiron. History of rugby union in the United States The first recorded rugby match in the United States occurred on May 14, 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University. Rugby grew in the early 1900's, spurred in party by American football's crisis of 1905-06 due to the perception that American football was a violent sport. During this era, rugby was perceived as having the potential to challenge American football as the dominant football code on the west coast. At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, a United States rugby team composed largely of