English B2 FCE

It is (0) NOT (1) ............ known and it may come as a surprise, but rugby is not only a sport, but also a place. The town of Rugby is situated in the picturesque county of Warwickshire. The sport actually (2) ............ its name to this quaint little town as it was here that the sport is said to have been born. The story goes that while attending Rugby school, a young chap named William Webb Ellis decided that it might be a bit of fun to (3) ............ up a football team and run with it. From her the game of rugby was started in 1845. The sport has gone (4) ............ strength to strength since that day and has, in fact, (5) ............ into two codes. The northern version is called rugby league whereas the original is rugby union. Whilst they remain similar in nature, and to the untrained (6) ............, may actually appear to be the same sport, they do have several differences that are held in great esteem by avid fans of the two sports. Unlike football, rugby players did not turn professional until 1995 and they have wage caps to stop the sport becoming too commercialized. Due to this fact, the sport does not (7) ............ in the same revenues as football and therefore has a much more limited fan base which basically (8) ............ of ex commonwealth countries and the odd other nation. Rugby is known to be aggressive in nature and is famously said to be "a hooligans game played by gentlemen, whereas football is a gentleman's sport played by hooligans".