Rugby vs American 'football'

[GoneOffShore]

Just watched England versus France this weekend, which England won - 19-14 (that was a surprise, it's England after all) - and got to thinking about how much more difficult a game rugby is.

Two 40 minute halves, very little padding, everybody runs all the time, and the field is larger.

Plus it's a lot more exciting.

No cheer leaders, but there is singing.

[Dr. Strange]

1. They pale in comparison to...

[Tikki]

54. AFL Grand Final is almost here. Will be televised here in the States on October 2nd....

by most cable companies on one of their sports channels that night.
I would love to see the Hawthorn Hawks go, again, to the Grand Final and win a 3-peat.

Australian Rules is exciting, always on the move, tough and addictive.


Tikki

[SwissTony]

64. They were fantastic against the Adelaide Chooks

If I were a Freo fan, I'd be worried. Even disregarding the Port Adelaide game, Freo have looked fragile for the last few games.

But the game should be a cracker.

I think it could well be a Hawks v WCE final.

For those who can and wish to watch, the game will be played on October 3rd Australian time. As Tikki has pointed out, that may be on the 2nd depending on where you live.

[SwissTony]

2. I suspect you know this, but there are two variants of rugby.

Rugby Union is played between 2 teams, each consisting of 15 men or women. Rugby League has 13 players on each side.

The major difference between the two games is how the ball is handled after the holding player is tackled. In Union (s)he must release it backwards while play continues. In League, play is stopped for just a few seconds and the tackled player rolls it back with his foot to a teammate and the game resumes. (Obviously, an oversimplification, but I'm sure you get the picture).

Both games are great. I prefer League myself.

The Union world cup starts on 18 September. My country (Australia) is in the most difficult group with England and Wales.

[T_i_B]

4. I think Amercians could really get into Rugby League

Last edited Thu Aug 20, 2015, 01:34 AM - Edit history (1)

If you like NFL, then you should love Rugby League.

The big problem Rugby League has in the UK in my opinion, is how parochial it's become. It's all centred on a narrow band of England along the M62 corridor between Hull & Liverpool with very little being seen of the sport outside of that area.

[geardaddy]

40. C'mon Wales!

Dewch ymlaen, Cymru!

I just hope we can get to the quarter finals and that New Zealand doesn't steal the show.

[rurallib]

3. played a bit in college

just love rugby. American football is quite boring with all the stoppage, timeouts, commercials etc. Adding in official looking at replays has really slowed things down even more.

[T_i_B]

5. I much prefer Rugby to football myself these days.

Since moving back up North I've started following Rotherham Titans http://www.rotherhamrugby.co.uk/home/

Easily the best reason to visit Rotherham.

Rotherham Titans have grown from being a very minor club to having played in the premier league and Europe before now, and in the past 2 seasons we've been challenging to get into the premier league again. Watch out for our former player Juan Pablo Socino playing for Argentina in the upcoming World Cup.

It's also a lot cheaper then watching a football match, you don't get all the moaners that you do at football and you can watch the game while having a laugh and a joke and beer with opposition fans. Good stuff all round!

[bigwillq]

6. Rugby is ok

But American Football is better, imo

[GoneOffShore]

8. Okay. Different strokes and all that.

Still don't get the attraction to US football.

[jmowreader]

63. Watch....

[davidpdx]

68. Too bad the Seahawks are 0-2

[jmowreader]

71. Ain't that the damn truth

[trof]

11. 100 commercials and just 11 minutes of play

Average NFL game.
http://qz.com/150577/an-average-nfl-game-more-than-100-commercials-and-just-11-minutes-of-play/

[davidpdx]

69. Which is why I download games and watch them afterward

I can watch a 3 hour game in about 50 minutes.

[quickesst]

7. Rugby...

...what little I've seen, looks like semi-organized chaos. Went to a Kansas concert once, and one of the members announced, "We're Kansas, and we play Kansas songs"
I'm a Razorback, and I love Razorback football. We're back! WOO PIG!!!

[GoneOffShore]

9. Watch a match in a pub, with someone who knows the game.

You'll get it.

And you'll wonder why you ever bothered watching guys in padded suits putzing about for 3 hours.

[quickesst]

10. Haha....

No thanks. Hell, I'm 63, stubborn, and bleed Hawg red. You just don't throw away that many years of emotional investment. Think I'll remain blissfully ignorant of the noble game of rugby. Come on out from behind there. I ain't mad.

[Art_from_Ark]

12. If you're 63 and a Hawg fan, you undoubtedly remember the "Game of the Century"

[quickesst]

27. Sorry...

...bout the late reply. Didn't show up on My Posts. Anyway, yep, I remember alright. Still get a twinge of "damn!!" when I think about it. Hawgs have had a rough couple of years, but I believe we're on the road to success again. Chomping at the bit for Sept. 5th. My son, grandson, and a 100" big screen. Woo Pig!!

[Art_from_Ark]

28. I was in elementary school at the time

and the principal came into the lunchroom on the Friday before the game to lead everyone in "Pig Sooie".

And Tricky Dick was in attendance at the game.

[T_i_B]

14. Well by the same token....

...Brits watching an NFL game are liable to comment that it just looks like five seconds of barging followed by a committee meeting!

Although in reality NFL & both codes of Rugby are all very structured.

I'd make a cheap comment about all the ad breaks, but my beloved Rotherham Titans have had sponsored yellow & red cards in the past. So if a player got sin binned you'd hear an announcement that the yellow card is sponsored by a local solicitors!

[quickesst]

15. Uh....

"I'd make a cheap comment about all the ad breaks, but my beloved Rotherham Titans have had sponsored yellow & red cards in the past. So if a player got sin binned you'd hear an announcement that the yellow card is sponsored by a local solicitors!"

WHUUT

[T_i_B]

16. Yep

Even regular home supporters used to laugh at that, never mind what the away fans said. Although the sponsored yellow & red cards didn't happen last season.

All the same money (or lack thereof) is a big factor in a lot of sport, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this happening in football in a few years time.

[quickesst]

17. Hopefully...

...not college football. I don't watch the NFL. I have to feel an emotional attachment to a team. My home state of Arkansas doesn't have any pro sports teams, and if they did, most players would be there for the money. UofA players are there because they want to be Razorbacks.🏈🙌

[OriginalGeek]

37. I was born in Tallahassee

where my mom and dad met at FSU and my grandpa was there getting his master's so I'm a Seminoles fan since birth.
BUT I grew up in Dallas so I also developed a healthy love for for Southwest Conference football. I always liked watching your Razorbacks play - they always seemed to be high energy, exciting games. Also I'm a bit of a contrarian and since EVERYone I knew was a Texas or Oklahoma fan I liked rooting for the other teams. Still, if they aren't playing FSU I will be cheering for the former SWC teams on most days.

But I'll watch NFL all day too. Cowboys for life!

[quickesst]

47. The biggest thing I miss...

... About the Old Southwest Conference is the rivalry we had with Texas. I do enjoy the games we occasionally have, but it doesn't mean much to the younger fans. A long time ago Arkansas used to be the Cardinals until the University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot in 1910 to the Arkansas Razorbacks after a hard fought battle against LSU in which they were said to play like a "wild band of Razorback hogs" by former coach Hugo Bezdek.
I don't watch nearly as much NFL football as I used to, but when I do it's to watch the Chargers. Been a fan since I was a small kid just because I thought they had the coolest helmets in football. Stuck with me ever since.

[SwissTony]

23. In Aussie Rules, we don't have announcements at the ground as such.

But every aspect of the game seems to be sponsored. When a player takes a mark (catches the ball after someone has kicked it), the TV commentators will say "That's a contender for the Dulux Paints mark of the day. And probably for the McDonalds' mark of the year!!!!"

Same with goals..."That's a candidate for the Smith and Jones Car Company goal of the day."

Even the scoreboard has a sponsor..."Port Adelaide is leading the Crows by 5 points on the Hoffman Real Estate scoreboard."

It get's very tiring very quickly.

[T_i_B]

31. That sounds like IPL cricket

Where the commentators talk about batsmen hitting a "Yes Bank Maximum" rather than hitting it for six.

Everyone complains about English football being so commercialised these days. Watch other sports and you realize just how much worse that element could be.

[chknltl]

13. This Seahawk fan prefers American Football.

I've never watched a soccer game nor a rugby game. I've never watched a cricket game nor a game of baseball either. I may have caught a bit of basketball back around 1980 when Seattle had the Supersonics but in all honesty, I've never even watched an entire game of basketball either. I'm not truly a one-sport-only fan though, whenever I find it on television, I can watch pool, both 8-ball and 9-ball played by professionals. I also like the game of snooker but I've never seen a match on TV. (I wish I could have seen Mr. Davis play snooker while he was in his prime. I've played a little snooker and imo it is a tougher game because of table size and pocket smallness, my hat is off to anyone who can master this sport).

[GoneOffShore]

18. Both soccer and rugby move at about 4 times the speed of American "football".

I put football in quotes because NFL player's feet rarely contact the ball.

By rights it could well be called "hand ball".

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Got It

You hate american football and so should we.

[GoneOffShore]

20. Don't hate it. Just find it dead boring.

And if you like it, fine.

But it's like watching rhino's butt heads. Actually that's more exciting.

[T_i_B]

21. Some people might say that about scrummaging in rugby union

Especially when teams use it as an opportunity to win a penalty, rather then using the scrum for it's intended purpose of restarting play. That all too often leads to about 10 minutes of endless reset scrums.

But all the same, I think most people round these parts would rather watch that than put up with all the breaks in NFL matches.

[GoneOffShore]

22. Absolutely... Like running out the clock in basketball.

I'm also not a fan of the NFL because of the public money that goes into stadiums here.

"If we don't get a new taxpayer financed stadium, we're going to move the team to....."

[SwissTony]

24. Football (soccer) players also use ruses to run down the clock.

Some are "legitimate" (like taking the ball into a corner and holding the ball and/or trying to get a throw-in - quotes deliberate) or illegitimate (like faking a severe injury when little or no contact was made).

I'd love to see what would happen if the NFL team was told "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" But I guess such an action would have electoral consequences.

Have you seen John Oliver's piece on this subject?

[GoneOffShore]

25. I've so seen soccer players do all of those things.

Especially the pros.

And I've seen Oliver's piece on stadiums. I'd laugh if it wasn't so true.

It would be great if sports teams had to jump through the same fund raising hoops that art organizations are obliged to navigate. Especially as they bring in far more money to communities than pro sports. And the money stays in the community.

[OriginalGeek]

53. But we NEED the breaks!

that's when we go get beer or go to the bathroom or crush candy.

Or all three.

[meow2u3]

26. Technically, American football may be called American rugby

Football came from rugby AFAIK.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_football

http://www.diffen.com/difference/American_Football_vs_Rugby#Origin_of_rugby_and_football

[GoneOffShore]

29. I kind of knew that.

It still doesn't explain how NFL ball got to be so slow moving.

A cricket match is faster.

[T_i_B]

30. Rugby has it's roots in football

Of course, at this point we have to mention the famous legend about William Webb Ellis inventing the game by picking the ball up in a football match and running with it at Rugby School.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Webb_Ellis

But yes, I would agree that it's far more accurate to call the NFL "American Rugby".

[SwankyXomb]

36. I once saw it called "armoured rugby"

That still makes me chuckle.

[T_i_B]

56. How about "Robot Rugby League"?

[olddots]

32. you want an exciting ball game ?

nothing beats Pocket Pool and you can play it well into old age .

[T_i_B]

33. Speaking of old age

Here's an article about some of the community work done by the rugby team I follow!

http://www.bigissuenorth.com/2015/08/team-works/14128

The club, riding high in the second tier of the rugby union system, the RFU Championship, operates a community foundation, where players are contractually obligated to undertake at least four hours community service per week. Tom Holmes, 25, towering at 6’5” and weighing in at 114kg, almost acts as a surrogate son as he enquires about Deakin’s health. “Have you made an appointment about your leg?” he gently nudges. “If you don’t, I’m going to go down to your GP and make one myself.”

He adds: “They feel like family now. You worry. When you get older, a simple cold can easily turn into something more serious. When Grace wasn’t here for three weeks [while she received treatment for cancer], we spoke to her on the phone. People don’t know their neighbours anymore; there’s less chance of them looking in on the elderly. The benefits of this are clear: it causes less isolation and GPs have found it leads to fewer prescriptions.”

Over 3,000 patients (on average 120 per month) have been referred for a social prescription – funded by the local clinical commissioning group and co-ordinated by Voluntary Action Rotherham – since the start of the programme in the town in 2012. An evaluation by the Centre For Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University of the pilot phase of the service found that it had both positive social and economic impacts. Using data for people referred up until the end of January 2014, it said inpatient admissions and outpatient appointments had been reduced by 21 per cent, and accident and emergency attendances cut by 20 per cent.

Gordon Laidlaw, a CCG spokesperson, is keen to stress the benefits of social prescribing. “It provides a win-win for all involved. We like it as it addresses inappropriate admissions into hospital. GPs like it as it gives them an option apart from referral to hospital or to prescribe medication. It provides the voluntary and community sector with support for their sustainability and, more importantly, patients and carers tell us they love it as it improves their quality of life, reduces social isolation and moves the patient from dependence to independence.”

[T_i_B]

34. Rugby World Cup starts today!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34280490

[SwissTony]

35. So, who's playing?

Just kidding. I've got the fixtures bookmarked.

Come on, Aussie, come on, come on...(actually a cricket song).

[GoneOffShore]

38. Thanks for the heads up.

Back in the US sometimes I forget to look.

[geardaddy]

41. Yea!

Are you supporting Blighty?

[GoneOffShore]

45. Yes, though I have a strong sympathy for the French side.

[geardaddy]

46. Fair enough.

[T_i_B]

48. Blighty is for Lions tours

I'm supporting England for the Rugby world cup.

[geardaddy]

49. Yes, I realize that now.

I thought Blighty could be used for England specifically though, too. Thanks!

[geardaddy]

42. Here's the link to the official RWB page

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/

[geardaddy]

39. France is traditionally a good team though.

[GoneOffShore]

43. Yes they are. Strong competitors.

But they don't sing as well.

[geardaddy]

44. ...

Yes, if the competition was in singing Wales would win!

[T_i_B]

57. France are playing Italy today

It would be nice to see Italy beat France, but Italy are something of a one man team at the moment, and the one man in question (Sergio Parisse) is out injured. Therefore I can't see France losing.

[geardaddy]

50. England v. Fiji on now.

[T_i_B]

51. England won 35-11

2 late tries for the bonus point. I thought that England were too sloppy against a good Fiji side. Also, I thought that the ref was a bit too reliant on video replays, which slowed things right down.

Ah well, more rugby tomorrow!

[geardaddy]

52. I couldn't watch the match, but followed the live feed.

It got close there at the beginning of the second half. Well done England.

[davidpdx]

55. I don't understand it much

But SF 49ers have a rugby player on their roster from Australia who was willing to take a huge pay cut because he wanted to play in the NFL.

[SwissTony]

58. That's Jarryd Hayne, former rugby league player.

So far, so good for Jarryd. He's created quite a bit of interest in Australia.

This article suggests that Australia might be an area of expansion for the NFL.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vincentfrank/2015/09/17/jarryd-haynes-nfl-debut-draws-record-ratings-in-australia/

But it would have its work cut out. We already have 4 major ball sports (Australian Rules football - (see post 1), rugby union, rugby league and soccer). And a population of only 23 times 10 to the 6th.

The AFL is actually looking at recruiting players from the US. They're looking for tall guys who can jump to play in ruck (when the game starts or a goal is scored, the umpire bounces or throws the ball into the air and two ruckmen try to tap the ball to a teammate). Here's an article about one USian who hopes to emulate Jason Holmes and break into the AFL.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-08-27/aurrichio-hoping-to-follow-in-footsteps-of-fellow-american-holmes

Jason played in the last three games of the season for his club St Kilda.

[davidpdx]

62. Hayne muffed a punt catch though and caused a turnover

Thankfully it didn't matter much, but geez he needs to practice those more.

The NFL is already pushing to expand into Europe, which I think is a huge mistake. The distance between the cities in the US and in Europe would make it very hard in terms of traveling. The NFL teams on the west coast already have to travel a lot. I can't imagine them having to travel to London, Frankfurt, or Barcelona. Maybe you remember NFL Europe a number of years back. It was a good idea, but just wasn't profitable. Would have been nice had it worked because it served as sort of a AAA league for the NFL in the US.

[T_i_B]

65. Agree about NFL expansion

The NFL is making a huge effort to get Britain (or that there London town at any rate) into the sport. Even hosting 3 regular season games at Wembley stadium this year. And there are rumours that they might want to relocate the Jacksonville Jaguars to London (presumably nobody in America wants to support them)

http://www.nfl.com/international

It'll be amusing to see what NFL players make of the Wembley turf after all the rugby players have finished with their world cup fixtures there, but I would much rather see the sport grow from the grassroots up, rather than being imposed on us from the top down.

[davidpdx]

66. I think even having the three regular season games overseas is a mistake

Preseason is one thing, but the regular season that interferes too much with the schedule.

Jacksonville is kind of one of those unpopular teams. Certainly there are other cities in which the NFL could move teams to besides the ones with the initials LA. My hometown of Portland doesn't have an NFL team. It would be cool if the Raiders moved north. They have quite a bit of support in Oregon.

[T_i_B]

67. In addition to doing unspeakable things to pigs....

...the Tories are very keen on getting American sports franchises over here.

http://www.espn.co.uk/american-football/story/_/id/12690535/conservative-party-announces-ambitions-united-kingdom-based-nfl-nba-mlb-franchise-part-manifesto-ahead-uk-general-election

Britain's Conservative Party has announced its ambition to bring new NFL, NBA and MLB franchises to the United Kingdom.

The political party pledged in its manifesto, which was launched on Tuesday ahead of next month's general election, to work to attract top-level American football, basketball and baseball to Britain on a long-term basis.

Prime Minister David Cameron leads the Conservatives and the party's manifesto says: "We will support new sports in the UK, in particular through greater links with the U.S. National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, with the ultimate ambition of new franchises being based here."

Both the NFL and NBA have held regular-season games in London for several years. In October last year, the British government publicly pledged its desire to have an NFL side permanently based in the capital.

Personally I think that they should be trying to export British sports to America instead of importing the NFL over here.

[SwissTony]

70. Could a sports team based in the UK actually compete in the US?

One site I looked at said the flight time between New York and London was 7.5 hours (and 8.5 on the way back). If they were to play a regular home and away season, a London based team would spend 16 hours in transit for each game. And that's just flight time. As we all know, flight time is just one component of travel time.

And, of course, teams based in the US will face exactly the same problem coming to London.

I've used London as an example, but the same would apply if the team were based in Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool.

[SwissTony]

59. South Africa v Japan [SPOILER]

SA 32 - Japan 34

No, kids, it's not April Fools Day. Japan won.

[T_i_B]

60. Quite possibly the best rugby world cup match ever.

Japan were sensational. The quality displayed by both sides was incredible but for a team that hasn't won a world cup match since 1991 do that against South Africa of all teams is just unbelievable.

[GoneOffShore]

61. Max Boyce on the World Cup