Samoa rules is a game derived from

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

that is occasionally played in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

Rules

Generally the rules are taken from Australian rules, but each team consists of 15 players, like rugby union. Unlike Australian rules football, player movement is restricted to zones (similarly to rec footy). There is a line across the centre that backs and forwards can not cross. Onballers are allowed to go anywhere. Forwards can only operate in their attacking half, the backs in their defensive half. Like

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

, players are permitted to bounce the ball only once while running, in order to encourage kicking.

Pitch

The game is played on rugby union fields, sometimes a single one, or two side by side. This means the pitch is rectangular, rather than oval, like an Australian football field.

History

The Vailima Six-Shooters' Championship began in Samoa in 1998 under these rules, becoming known as Samoa rules. A number of Samoa rules players went on to represent Samoa in the Samoan national Australian rules football team.

References

{{Team sports Rugby union in Samoa Ball games Variations of Australian rules football Australian rules football in Samoa Variations of rugby union Sports originating in Australia Sports originating in Samoa Hybrid sports