Twice between WW1 and WW2 the game of rugby was introduced but failed to catch on in Yugoslavia. It was not until the early 1950s that Dragan Marscevic, the secretary of the Yugoslavian Sports Association, introduced rugby league. This was in response to an offer made by the French Rugby League Federation to send over two teams to play a series of four games to stimulate interest.

Rugby union took root in Croatia not long after this, but the game of rugby league is still strong within Serbia. With the game needing better organisation, both codes joined together to form the Yugoslav Rugby Federation. This is the only time anywhere in the world that this has occurred as amateurs played both codes.

In the late 50s a league and cup competition was organised and in 1961, the first and only Yugoslav international team of rugby league took the field against a French amateur XIII. The Yugoslavs lost 13-0 but this was to be the high point in Yugoslav rugby league.

In 1962, the Croatian Rugby Union was formed under the banner of the Yugoslav Rugby Federation. Rugby league stumbled on until 1964 when the game was abandoned. The Federation decided that even though rugby league was the more popular game in Yugoslavia, the game of rugby union was the more popular game worldwide. With the prospect of playing more international fixtures and because their players were all amateur anyway, rugby union became the only code to be played from then on.

With the adoption of union rules, the Federation joined FIRA in the same year, but it took another four years before they fielded their first international side. The first team played in the 1968 World and Students Festival in Bulgaria. A few months later, the first capped international took place against Czechoslovakia.

The Yugoslav team took part in numerous FIRA competitions and friendlies against other rugby playing nations in the mediterranean area as well as Eastern Europe. By the mid 70s links to Yugoslav emigrants in New Zealand led to Yugoslav club sides touring there. The New Zealand Yugoslav Sports Club was formed to take the children of immigrants for tours in Yugoslavia. These tours continued to occur every four years until 1990.

In 1988, Yugoslavia joined the IRB and a year later played its only World Cup qualifying match before the civil war. With the country descending into war during 1991, the Union played its last game before disbanding against the team it played its first game against, Czechoslovakia. A tour to Britain called “Tour for Peace” was a final attempt to keep the Yugoslav players together, but players from Serbia refused to take part. On the 10th October 1991, the Yugoslav Rugby Federation disbanded.

Today, there are four Unions, which play the game of rugby. Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each is a member of the IRB and they are all playing to qualify for the 2003 World Cup.