This list of rugby league terms is a general glossary of the terminology used in the

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

of rugby league football. The sport has accrued a considerable amount of

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a partic ...

to describe aspects of the game. Many terms originate from the Laws of the Game. A number of aspects of the game have more than one term that refers to them. Different terms have become popularly used to describe an aspect of the game in different places with notable differences between the northern and southern hemispheres. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics.

0–9

: Every time a player is tackled, all defenders, apart from a maximum of two markers, have to retreat 10 metres from the play-the-ball area. : A player selected as a back-up to the official 17 man squad for a game. The 18th man usually warms up with the team prior to a match and may be called into the team if one of the 17 players is injured or ill prior to the start of the match. The term is also sometimes used informally to refer to a team's supporters, and the squad number 18 may even be reserved for this purpose. : If a player standing no more than 40 metres away from his own try line manages to a kick a ball in general play which bounces in the field of play then goes into touch inside his opponents, 20-metre area, his side restart the game with a tap 20m from the touchline and level with where the ball went out of play but no closer than 10m to the defending team's goal line.

A

: The defender in the defensive line that is immediately to the right or left of the '' play-the-ball''. : One determinant of a dangerous '' tackle''. Defenders lifting an attacking player off the ground to the point when their feet are higher than their head. Lifting a player this way can be a precursor to the outlawed ''

spear tackle A spear tackle is an illegal tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football in which a player lifts another player into the air and drops them so that they land on their back, head or neck. Spear tackles have caused serious inju ...

''. : "Advantage" is the period of time after an infringement, in which the non-offending side have the opportunity to gain sufficient territory or tactical opportunity to negate the need to stop the game due to the infringement. The referee will signal advantage with their arm out horizontally, toward the non-infringing team. If no tactical or territorial advantage is gained, the referee will whistle, and give the decision that had been delayed. If sufficient advantage is gained, the referee will call "advantage over", and play will continue. The Advantage Law allows the game to flow more freely, and not stop for every minor infringement. : It is an imaginary line across the pitch when there is a breakdown in open play, i.e. a '' play-the-ball'', '' scrum''. Advancing across the advantage line represents a gain in territory. Also called the "gain line". : An ankle tap, also referred to as a tap-tackle, may be used as a last resort by a defender chasing the attacking player carrying the ball if that player is about to evade them and a conventional tackle is not possible. If the defender is not able to get close enough to the ball-carrier to wrap their arms around them in a conventional tackle, they may still be able to dive at the other player's feet and, with outstretched arm, deliver a tap or hook to the player's foot (or feet) causing the player to stumble. At speed, this will often be sufficient to bring the ball-carrier down and may sufficiently delay the attacker for a defender to complete the tackle or for the defending team to organise their defence. : When an attacking player makes an off the ball run that goes in the opposite direction of the attack. If the attacking side are passing the ball to the left edge the runner against the grain is running back into the middle of the pitch. : ''See Round the corner kicking''

B

: A type of ''tackle'' preventing the player (who is being tackled) being able to ''

offload {{Short pages monitor : Defending players may be penalised by the referee if they are caught using a swinging arm against the ball-carrier in the tackle.

T

: Another term for ''#ankle tap, Ankle tap''. : The Rugby league positions#Threequarters, threequarters, also known as "outside backs", consist of the ''#wing, wingers'' and ''#centre, centres''. The term "threequarters" originated as the tactics and player formations of rugby football developed in the 1880s. The players positioned between the halves and the full back were known as the quarters; during the years in which it was usual for there to be three players positioned here, they were known collectively as the three quarters. Later, the addition of a fourth player to the quarters became usual for teams. As the formations developed, an additional player was placed between the halfback and the quarters. Due to a semantic change for three quarters to mean 6/8ths, with halfback being 4/8ths, the position came to be known as the five-eighth. : The part of the touch line that is inside the '' in-goal'' area. If a team causes the ball to go into touch in-goal in their own in-goal area they must perform a ''#Goal line drop out, goal line drop-out''. If a team causes the ball to go into touch in-goal in the opposing team's in-goal, the opposing team will be given an ''#optional kick, optional kick'' on the 20 metre line. : Otherwise known as the '' goal line'', so-called because a player has to cross this line to score a '' try''. : Another term for '' handover''.

U

: The Playing rugby league#Preventing line breaks, umbrella defence (or "up and in defence") requires that players do not spread across the entire field. The defensive line is particularly vulnerable on the edges around the wings, therefore the best defensive measure in this case is a preventive measure. That is, the aim becomes to prevent the attacking team from going to the wings or to disrupt any passes towards the edge of the field. This requires that defensive players (wingers or centres) on the edge of the defensive line move up faster than those in the middle of the line. : See: ''#umbrella defence, Umbrella defence'' : A style of play intended to reduce the chance of attacking players committing errors. This is usually accomplished by limiting passes in number and risk. Often advocated for use by a team in the lead late in the match.

V

: The attacking player in possession is not allowed to "deliberately and unnecessarily" allow themselves to be tackled by falling to the ground when not held by a defender. RLIF, 2004: 24 This includes times when a player has fallen on a loose ball, in these instances the player must attempt to regain their feet and continue. Section 11, Law 4 of the Laws of the Game deems the voluntary tackle illegal.

W

: The ''Rugby league positions#Wing, wings'' or "wing three quarters" (numbered 2 and 5) are normally the fastest players in a team and play on the far left and right fringes of the field (the wings). Their main task is to receive passes and score tries. The wingers also drop back on the last tackle to cover the left and right sides of the field for kicks while the full back covers the middle.

Z

: Zam-Buk, or zambuk, was a skin-dressing sold in chemists and used by ambulance-men and first aiders at rugby league matches on injured players from the 1900s. In Australia and New Zealand the term was soon being used to refer to the ambulance-men and first aiders themselves. The term fell into disuse in the 1970s as ambulance-men and first aiders were replaced by club trainers and others.

References

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