MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians playing a game of amateur rugby were arrested by police who mistook the match for a mass brawl, local media reported Monday.

"We got a call to our control room saying there was a fight involving a lot of people on some waste ground just outside town," RIA news agency quoted a police official in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don as saying.

The players and supporters -- nearly 100 people in total -- were taken to the local police station. They were released without charge when officers realized they had been playing rugby, the news agency reported.