Rest of the world in sports and games


Within sports and games played at the international competitive level, the Rest of the World refers to a team of players from many countries of origin that compete against a single individual or a team from a single group, such as a club or country.

Overview

As a Rest of the World team usually has little experience in playing together or working as a team, their ability is not usually considered indicative of their actual abilities, either individually or as members of their usual teams, and as such, games played against the rest of the world are not normally considered to show the true talent of either the rest of the world or the team competing against them. As a consequence, Rest of the World matches are usually played as one-off events either as friendly games or for a non-competitive special purpose, such as international aid or commemoration.
However, some such events can produce spectacular and intense games, such as the chess game between Garry Kasparov and the Rest of the World in 1999. The Russia vs Rest of the World chess matches were also tightly contested.

Examples

In rugby league, the Other Nationalities team played from 1904 to 1975. In rugby union, the British and Irish Lions faced the Rest of the World XV in 1986.
In basketball, the NBA Rising Stars Challenge faces a Team USA versus a Team World since 2015.

Golf

Two events in golf, one currently active and the other defunct, involve teams officially labeled "International" that are effectively "rest of the world" teams. The Presidents Cup in men's golf, held in odd-numbered years, features competition between a United States team and an "International" team made up of non-European players. The now-defunct Lexus Cup in women's golf was an annual competition that matched an Asia team against an "International" team drawn from all other nationalities.

Non-sporting usage

Outside sports and games, Rest of World is also a term used to distinguish an unspecified but inclusive group of nations from one or more dominant players in the comparative analysis of markets, economies, military capabilities, and so forth, especially in graphs or charts to show the numbers representing the other countries.
The Federation of American Scientists, for instance, provides a list of RoW weapons systems, meaning systems belonging to nations other than the United States.