rugger

noun

Etymology: From rugby (“Rugby football”) + -er (Oxford “-er”). Compare contemporary soccer, from Association football. Both words seem to have originated at the University of Oxford during the 1880s. See Oxford -er.

1. rugby

   “That . . . . . . may for once put a full Rugger team in the field”

   “Golf is perhaps seven or eight years old in Oxford, ... football, seu Rugger, sive Soccer, not more than sixteen or seventeen.”

2. rugby player

   “Some people refer to a Dropped Goal as if it were a misfortune rather than the perfection of football ... Genuine "Ruggers" will, of course, scoff at this”

   “To this day ruggers belittle soccer, and they will tell anyone who expresses the slightest interest in their game that rugby is "a ruffian's game played by gentlemen," while soccer is "a gentleman's game played by ruffians."”