Rugby falls into two modern forms, Rugby Union, usually referred to simply as Rugby, and Rugby League. Rugby is so-named because it was the Rugby School in England which first developed the codified rules in 1870 which today characterize the sport, and was generally an upper class sport in those days. Rugby league, which has thirteen players rather than the fifteen of Rugby, and which has several major differences in play and rules, was formed in 1895, and was traditionally a working man’s sport. Later League became the professional form of the game, and Rugby was purely amateur, but this all changed in 1995 when the Rugby Union voted to become a professional sport. Since that time the formerly rare crossing from one sport to the other by players has become quite common.

Rugby has numerous competitions, and thus numerous opportunities for awards. In first-tier Rugby, there are national competitions in the UK, Australasia, South Africa, France, and Argentina, and these nations play regular “test” matches between them, as well as having their own domestic competitions and a variety of international competitions at club levels, such as the Super 14 competition (14 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), or the European Challenge Cup with club teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Romania, and in some years Spain and Portugal. There are also national club competitions in all of these nations, and awards are given in all such competitions. At the other end of the scale there is the quadrennial Rugby World Cup, played between the top 12 teams from the previous World Cup (the top 3 in each group) plus 8 nations chosen from regional qualifying tournaments. There are also second-tier Rugby-playing nations, with teams from the US, Japan, Ireland, Wales and Scotland (as opposed to Britain combined), Italy, Russia, Fiji, and others. These compete in the Rugby World Cup against the first-tier sides, although they rarely reach the second level of that competition. Add to this the shortened version of the game, the 7s competitions comprising 7 players a side, and a vigorous women’s Rugby involvement, and the possibilities for awards is extensive.

Membership of one of these national sides provides one of a many-tiered award system, as being “capped” for one’s country is itself an award. Australian players, for instance, are given numbers, and by the end of 2008 only 830 players had been “capped” in the history of the game, with George Gregan at 115 caps the Australian and world record holder. In some very rare cases, although becoming more common in today’s modern era, a player can win caps in both forms of the sport (or even all three if we include the international 7s competitions). The award considered the most prestigious in the sport is the International Rugby Board (IRB) player of the year. This is a truly international event: the 2008 winner was Welshman Shane Williams, narrowly winning from New Zealander Dan Carter, a Welsh team-mate, a Scot, and the Italian team captain. The international team of the year was New Zealand (The All Blacks), and the All Blacks coach won the coach of the year award.

Most games in most competitions in most team sports have some sort of Man of the Match/MVP award; the more important awards are those presented at the end of the season for best player of the year. There are too many to list them all. In the major international Rugby club competition, the Super 14s, each of the three nations gives awards for player of the year. In Australian Rugby, for instance, this Super 14 award has been dominated by two players, who have won eight such annual awards between them. The last four years Australian test vice-captain George Smith has won the award. There is also a Hall of Fame award for Australian test players, and this is highly desired, as there are only 14 names on the honor roll.