PROOF: Football Harder Than Rugby

[adlep]

Lol US "football" is a looser game. Its not even a sport with all the breaks reserved for beer jingles...

Meh...
"tough sport" my ass. Nothing is going on most of the time. Bunch of men in gay armor standing around most of the time. The Americans are brainwashed into liking it and the rest of the world is just standing around facepalming!

 

[SlitheryDee]

Lol US "football" is a looser game. Its not even a sport with all the breaks reserved for beer jingles...

Meh...
"tough sport" my ass. Nothing is going on most of the time. Bunch of men in gay armor standing around most of the time. The Americans are brainwashed into liking it and the rest of the world is just standing around facepalming!

Yeah I tried to tell 'em but they were like "NOO! BEER FARTS TITTIES!" and I was all like you guys are looser losers with your gay pads the world is laughing at you. Then they all started bangin chicks so I went home.

 

[adlep]

Yeah I tried to tell 'em but they were like "NOO! BEER FARTS TITTIES!" and I was all like you guys are looser losers with your gay pads the world is laughing at you. Then they all started bangin chicks so I went home.

Idiocracy in action.

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=dumbassjocks

The same article above applies to colleges too. HandEgg makes Amerika stupid.

 

[Fingolfin269]

The things we 'discuss'. I do have to admit that since I now watch a lot more hockey I do find football to be a lot slower than I used to. Maybe further reduce the play clock?

 

[irishScott]

I was hoping someone would chip in to support soccer.

I like soccer, but it's short on things I can spin into an insult against football or Rugby.

That said...

And:

The German goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, raced towards Battiston as the Frenchman took the shot, missing the goal. Schumacher leapt into the air, twisting his body and colliding with Battiston. In the process, Schumacher's hip hit the Frenchman's face.

Battiston, clattered, fell to the ground unconscious, with damaged vertebrae and teeth knocked out, later slipping into a coma. Emergency medics had to administer oxygen on the pitch.

Michel Platini later said that he thought that Battiston was dead, because "he had no pulse and looked pale."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jnXhLwUfprg#at=51&t=0m45s

 

[Broheim]

I like soccer, but it's short on things I can spin into an insult against football or Rugby.

Bert Trautmann

knee'd in the neck during a crucial save, keeps playing, goes to celebratory party, finds out three days later he dislocated 5 vertebrea one of which was cracked in two.

 

[JTsyo]

Link

WTF? they don't wear cups? That's just dumb.

 

[JTsyo]

Lol US "football" is a looser game. Its not even a sport with all the breaks reserved for beer jingles...

Meh...
"tough sport" my ass. Nothing is going on most of the time. Bunch of men in gay armor standing around most of the time. The Americans are brainwashed into liking it and the rest of the world is just standing around facepalming!

Maybe you argument would hold water if the Super Bowl isn't usually the most watched event in the world.

Wiki

The Super Bowl is the most watched annual sporting event in the world. The only other annual event that gathers as many viewers is the UEFA Champions League final, which surpassed the Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 to become the most watched that year. For many years, the Super Bowl has possessed a large US and global television viewership, and it is often the most watched television program of the year.

 

[smitbret]

I played semi-pro football for about 7 years. We held open tryouts and inevitably we would get a few rugby players from the local university club team that would try out. The conversation was the same every year:

Rugger: You guys with all of your pads and all over your rules are such pu$$&*#.

Footballer: You're kidding right?

Rugger: Nah, come play rugby sometime and you'll see.

Footballer: Well, we are having open tryouts for the football team. You seem athletic and have skill, we'd love to have you <snicker, snicker>

Rugger: I will be there. I'll show you how to be a man.

Footballer: Cool

4 or 5 would tryout. It was always a treat to watch them take their first big hit on the first day in pads and you could watch them grimace in pain as the oxygen and their will to play American Football left their bodies. Most ruggers stopped coming after the first day in pads. Inevitably, 1 or 2 would make the team and stick it out for a couple of games but I don't believe any rugger ever stuck it out through an entire season. Most would claim some kind of internal injury that they never recovered from before the end of the season.

My impression is that rugby players seem to get a whole lot of big cuts and gashes, broken/dislocated bones in the extremites (especially fingers and noses) and they do a great job of playing through that pain. However, the bone-jarring hits that run through your whole body are just something you don't generally experience in Rugby. If you've never been lit up by someone that's 6'2", 225 lbs and runs a 4.7 40 then it's something you'll just never relate to till it happens and it's a shock if you're a fully grown man and haven't "accustomed" yourself to it over the years.

Both sports have their own kind of toughness.

 

[smitbret]

So that makes 2 people in this entire thread so far (myself one of them)?

And honestly, rugby is harder skills wise to learn brand new than football. In football, you can end up being a big ol fat guy, and just push people around. Granted, at the pro level, those guys are incredibly nimble for their size and strong, they don't have to catch anything, kick anything, and the offensive people don't even need to learn to tackle.

And a "small" football player, you will likely never need to tackle anybody who is tremendously bigger than you. Aka the 190lb safety won't be tackling a 260lb guy.

Edit: 3 people. And we all agree rugby is harder. Huhh....I wonder if that's a coincidence..?

Can't say that about rugby either.

Edit2: ok four.

Never played American Football, huh?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Never played American Football, huh?

Never learned to read, huh?

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

LOL rugby

LOL streetlights

 

[purbeast0]

it is funny how rugby fans (for the most part) get butthurt about football and have to talk it down, but football fans don't give 2 shits about rugby.

 

[adlep]

Maybe you argument would hold water if the Super Bowl isn't usually the most watched event in the world.

Wiki

The truth is that nobody watches that crap outside of the US. No one gives 2 shits. It is broadcasted everywhere all over the world but that's about it. Trying to force feed this to the rest of the world is counterproductive and it is a money pit outside of the US.

 

[Jodell88]

it is funny how rugby fans (for the most part) get butthurt about football and have to talk it down, but football fans don't give 2 shits about rugby.

If football fans didn't give two shits about rugby then a football fan wouldn't have created this thread.

 

[nephilim2k]

From the article cited

"The New York-based media research firm Initiative measured the global audience for the 2005 Super Bowl at 93 million people, with 98 percent of that figure being viewers in North America, which meant roughly 2 million people outside North America watched the Super Bowl"

Now given that the champions league final (or even world cup final) draws in close to 700 million viewers globally (or one tenth of the worlds population), seems to be NFL dips a bit there. Even the rugby world cup final pulled in nearly 200 million viewers globally, smashing the NFL global stats

 

[adlep]

And btw, this is AFL:
http://youtu.be/qh5hNY83UA4

 

[Puppies04]

Title is confusing, you say football but mean American eggball.

To clear up any confusion in your mind football is a game played by overpaid pansies, American eggball is an excuse for Americans to eat 14 hotdogs whilst mostly staring at 22 buff men bending over interspersed with 4 seconds of running around touching each other whilst wearing 14 metric fucktons of body armour.

 

[purbeast0]

If football fans didn't give two shits about rugby then a football fan wouldn't have created this thread.

1. the op is oldsmoboat - there is a reason there is a rule named after him.

2. read what i put in parenthesis.

 

[suse920]

So that makes 2 people in this entire thread so far (myself one of them)?

And honestly, rugby is harder skills wise to learn brand new than football. In football, you can end up being a big ol fat guy, and just push people around. Granted, at the pro level, those guys are incredibly nimble for their size and strong, they don't have to catch anything, kick anything, and the offensive people don't even need to learn to tackle.

And a "small" football player, you will likely never need to tackle anybody who is tremendously bigger than you. Aka the 190lb safety won't be tackling a 260lb guy.

Edit: 3 people. And we all agree rugby is harder. Huhh....I wonder if that's a coincidence..?

Can't say that about rugby either.

Edit2: ok four.

First off you singled out a football position which requires arguably the least amount of specialized skill. What about playing as a quarterback? The mental and physical skill set required to play that position is far different than that of a tackle's. What about playing as a wide receiver? One must develop the ability to run routes and have the hands to catch the ball consistently. Rugby players in turn have to develop their own skill sets to become successful. If you are going to compare the two it isn't fair to single out one football position.

Secondly a 190lb safety absolutely has to be able to tackle a 260lb guy. Look at the size of TEs and WRs these days. 220-260lbs isn't out of the ordinary anymore.

Thirdly anyone who thinks that wearing pads makes football less physical is mistaken. As pads have advanced and become more protective players have stepped up the physicality of their game accordingly. Having players wear helmets entirely changes the way you can hit someone. How common is it to see a rugby player run full speed and initiate a head to head hit? While it's illegal to do in the NFL is still happens fairly frequently during the season, and if you think wearing a helmet means it doesn't hurt then you are woefully misinformed. There is growing movement to take helmets out of the game, as a way to slow it down and have less physical hits.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454.html

This whole argument is stupid anyways. These are two completely different sports. It's like saying hockey is harder than soccer. Football has a set of rules and players are chosen to maximize the team's competitiveness under those rules. The same follows for Rugby. Could a professional football team beat a professional rugby team in rugby? No way. Could a professional rugby team beat a professional football team at football? Nope not a chance. Two different sports, many different types of athletes, this is a waste of time.

 

[suse920]

Wait... So only some of them are uber athletes now then?

No I'd consider pretty much every NFL player to be an uber athlete in their own right. Is the average NFL punter at the same overall athletic level as the average NFL running back? No absolutely not. But the punter is one of the best humans in the country at punting a football.

Actually a punter is an interesting example b/c you can bring in foreign talent (yes even rugby players) that make spectacular punters. It is often joked about that punters and kickers aren't real football players and that they have easy positions, but in reality they are integral to the success of a football team.

 

[Clemenza]

I think i remember seeing a study where the impacts in football are harder but rugby players hit more often. The net result was essential the same amount of force was applied over the course of each game.

Honestly though, even though I love football, I think hockey beats both of them as far as hitting is concerned.

 

[z1ggy]

Never played American Football, huh?

Played for 7 years thanks. Switched to rugby in college because my school didn't have football.

First off you singled out a football position which requires arguably the least amount of specialized skill. What about playing as a quarterback? The mental and physical skill set required to play that position is far different than that of a tackle's. What about playing as a wide receiver? One must develop the ability to run routes and have the hands to catch the ball consistently. Rugby players in turn have to develop their own skill sets to become successful. If you are going to compare the two it isn't fair to single out one football position.

Secondly a 190lb safety absolutely has to be able to tackle a 260lb guy. Look at the size of TEs and WRs these days. 220-260lbs isn't out of the ordinary anymore.

Thirdly anyone who thinks that wearing pads makes football less physical is mistaken. As pads have advanced and become more protective players have stepped up the physicality of their game accordingly. Having players wear helmets entirely changes the way you can hit someone. How common is it to see a rugby player run full speed and initiate a head to head hit? While it's illegal to do in the NFL is still happens fairly frequently during the season, and if you think wearing a helmet means it doesn't hurt then you are woefully misinformed. There is growing movement to take helmets out of the game, as a way to slow it down and have less physical hits.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704402404574527881984299454.html

This whole argument is stupid anyways. These are two completely different sports. It's like saying hockey is harder than soccer. Football has a set of rules and players are chosen to maximize the team's competitiveness under those rules. The same follows for Rugby. Could a professional football team beat a professional rugby team in rugby? No way. Could a professional rugby team beat a professional football team at football? Nope not a chance. Two different sports, many different types of athletes, this is a waste of time.

You have some good points. All I can really say I have an objection to is the fact in football, you are allowed to lead with shoulder and dive at legs. That means I could tackle a 260lb guy no problem, granted I can basically dive at his ankles and he will go down.

In rugby you are REQUIRED to attempt to wrap him up. No ankle diving = tackling huge people is not easy nor fun.

And don't forget that the reason you see so many concussions in the NFL is people know they have protection on their head and willingly choose to enter a tackle with it. In rugby, I learned very very quickly to make sure my head was out of the way of the person's body completely; you don't put your head on the ball like they teach you in football. I got one concussion playing rugby... it was from me missing a tackle and when the guy ran by his heel hit me in the head and I got knocked out cold.

 

[diesbudt]

I will throw my 2 cents in.

I played soccer from 1st grade to 8th grade. I played Rugby in High school. I played Football in high school. I watched Rugby. I watched football. I watched soccer.

IN MY EXPERIENCE.

Rugby is a much harder and physical demanding sport to play. Football however was a more enjoyable sport to play.

Football is more fun than soccer or rugby to WATCH. Soccer is 2nd, and Rugby is last. (However Rugby far surpasses baseball to watch.)

Rugby is just a long extended wrestling match with people trying to get a ball onto the other side of the field across a line or to kick it. More or less that is all it looks like. (There is more involved, but it isn't that fun to watch). Football has strategy, plays and requires skilled positions to out skill other skilled positions to take home a win. Soccer is just enjoyable to watch at the international level, because some of those good teams out there can really make the ball move fluidly around and make beautiful shots on goal.

Take it or leave it. This is my personal experience and opinion.

 

[diesbudt]

And don't forget that the reason you see so many concussions in the NFL is people know they have protection on their head and willingly choose to enter a tackle with it. In rugby, I learned very very quickly to make sure my head was out of the way of the person's body completely; you don't put your head on the ball like they teach you in football. I got one concussion playing rugby... it was from me missing a tackle and when the guy ran by his heel hit me in the head and I got knocked out cold.

Ironic isn't it. The more "safer" they make tools for people to use, the more ways people incorrectly use these tools and cause injuries.

In football we are specifically taught to watch the hips as the head of the runner lies, and to tackle at about the waist wrapping up with both hands and driving through the player.

However, because it was becoming celebratory for defensive players to make loud and huge hits on players, many do not do this and just try to destroy their opponent with a massive hit using the shoulder and driving through the chest or legs.