rugby football is a very violent game!
Rugby is a very old game that can be traced all the way the Greek and Romans.
Wow!   What was the ball made from back then?
My guess out of the some kind of animal hide.   Rugby is still favorite game in English public school. 
What are some of the positions called?
forms of football are known as football codes.
There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games played in many different parts of the world. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the nineteenth century. The expansion of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire. By the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for
century and these were subsequently very influential in the formulation of the 1863 first ever rules of modern Association Football by the Football Association. Many English public school football games involved dribbling and players were often very skillful at this art. Passing was certainly part of some games, as can be seen in the game of rugby football. The value of passing the ball in these various games depended upon the offside rule in that particular code. Some public school games kept a very tight offside rule, thus making forward passing worthless. Some