Though soccer has broken through in recent years, many other international sports have remained a mystery to American fans. Part of this may be the complexity of the rules of games like cricket and snooker. The current hot talking point in rugby union is a dispute between the England and Wales teams over supposed “illegal scrummaging.” Not scrimmaging, scrummaging.
Soccer’s success has nonetheless intrigued organizers of sports hoping for new markets. Cricket came to Citi Field in November, and now rugby comes to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., on Saturday. But rather than a glorified exhibition, like the ones top European soccer clubs play in the summer in the United States, this will be a real league game with real repercussions.