Snow rugby refers to forms of rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

, which are especially adapted to be played in winter conditions, particularly deep snow. It is played in the Argentinian Ski Resort of Las Leñas

Las Leñas

Las Leñas is one of the largest Andean ski resorts in Argentina, located in the western part of Mendoza Province, together with Cerro Catedral in San Carlos de Bariloche, located in Rio Negro province....

, Canada, the Kashmir region in India, Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 and northern USA, amongst other places.

History

Rugby union is predominately played during the winter months and it has been played in extremely cold conditions. In 1939 a Ranfurly Shield

Ranfurly Shield

The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, rather than a league or knockout competition as with most football trophies...

 game in New Zealand was played in the snow and in 1978 a game in Russia was played at -23 degrees centigrade. More recently games have been organised to be played in the snow. In 2009, Gulmarg

Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a town, a hill station and a notified area committee in Baramula district in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.-Geography:Gulmarg is located 52 km from Srinagar. It is located at . It has an average elevation of .-Demographics:...

 hosted India's first ever snow rugby tournament in Kashmir

Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...

 and it was included in the 2008 Indian Winter Games as a demonstrative event. During the 2011 Rugby World Cup

2011 Rugby World Cup

The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...

 Mount Dobson

Mount Dobson

Mount Dobson is a ski resort in the South Island of New Zealand. Located 2.25 hours from Christchurch and 3 hours from Queenstown, it claims an easy access road, the highest car park of any ski resort in New Zealand, and the earliest start to the season in 2006. It features a chair lift, a T-bar...

is hosting a "20 Below Rugby in the Snow" seven-a-side tournament. Tournaments have also been held in Finland, France, Latvia, and Argentina.

Attire

Because of the cold, and often subzero, temperatures which snow rugby is played in, players cannot play in standard rugby attire for the sake of their health.

The usual attire of shorts, bare legs, hands and even heads is simply not practical.