Are you Americans going to

[theHawk]

You're funny!

Why the heck would a decent rugby player want to go to the States and play that dull game of yours?

I'd love to see some of your 'big, tough' players last a whole 80 minutes without padding against England, the Aussies or the All Blacks!

Dream on!

That was the point making a joke, sir!

I never said NFL players would last long in a rugby game. Point is its two different sports that require two different types of athletes, and its stupid to call athletes from the NFL "girls", I dare you guys to say that to their faces. Athletes from rugby or the nfl would both get their asses kicked in professional tennis, or boxing, or ...any other sport, you get the point.
I still don't understand why Euros always have to trashtalk American sports, maybe it makes you guys feel more manly. Just because your soccer team can beat the U.S. soccer team isn't going to make us feel ashamed, so get over it.

 

[HopeandGlory]

That was the point making a joke, sir!

I never said NFL players would last long in a rugby game. Point is its two different sports that require two different types of athletes, and its stupid to call athletes from the NFL "girls", I dare you guys to say that to their faces. Athletes from rugby or the nfl would both get their asses kicked in professional tennis, or boxing, or ...any other sport, you get the point.
I still don't understand why Euros always have to trashtalk American sports, maybe it makes you guys feel more manly. Just because your soccer team can beat the U.S. soccer team isn't going to make us feel ashamed, so get over it.

I haven't trashed any US sports or called the players girls - I think you might have me mixed up with someone else!

I was responding because someone had trashed our sports, (it isn't just the UK/France/Italy who play rugby - it's huge in Australia, NZ, Polynesia/Micronesia, South Africa, and other countries such as Argentina, Uruguay as well - ) obviously without any understanding of the sheer physicality and toughness demanded by the game of rugby.

Oh - and by the way - I wouldn't object if you called me a girl!

I am one!

 

[GotZoom]

That was the point making a joke, sir!

I never said NFL players would last long in a rugby game. Point is its two different sports that require two different types of athletes, and its stupid to call athletes from the NFL "girls", I dare you guys to say that to their faces. Athletes from rugby or the nfl would both get their asses kicked in professional tennis, or boxing, or ...any other sport, you get the point.
I still don't understand why Euros always have to trashtalk American sports, maybe it makes you guys feel more manly. Just because your soccer team can beat the U.S. soccer team isn't going to make us feel ashamed, so get over it.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that.

Not only is the U.S. ranked higher in the world ranking than England but I am fairly confident that, with a full healthy squad, we could take them.

 

[Diuretic]

Why the heck would a decent rugby player want to go to the States and play that dull game of yours?

Money

And it's not dull. It's the most intellectually engaging of the codes that have been discussed. I don't claim to know a great deal about American football, never having played it, but the complexity of the plays, the matching of intelligence, skill, athleticism, pure brawn, physical strength and courage, make it a fascinating spectacle.

I like soccer/football. It requires a different approach of course. It's more free-flowing than American football which relies on set plays as well as individual brilliance but in soccer/football there is more emphasis on individual skills which are phenomenal. It's not about goals, it's about about overcoming the difficulties involved in manipulating the ball and delivering it at the goal.

I like rugby (union). Again it's more free flowing than American football and to some it looks like organised chaos but it isn't. There's a purpose and that purpose is made more difficult by the rules which prohibit forward play from the hands, thus increasing the skill levels required. In rugby, just like in the other codes mentioned, there is the split second shift in time that sees the setup for the try, it can come seemingly out of nowhere.

All of them have something to offer. And all require a different form of athleticism.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Most people who don't "get" football don't understand the vast intellectual mind games that make up the non-physical portion of the game.

 

[GotZoom]

Most people who don't "get" football don't understand the vast intellectual mind games that make up the non-physical portion of the game.

I'm proud of you Clay. You finally understand the allure of soccer (football).

 

[Diuretic]

Most people who don't "get" football don't understand the vast intellectual mind games that make up the non-physical portion of the game.

I think that's right. I can't claim to know the game, as I said I've never played it, only watched it. But it's fascinating to watch the plays - plans - put into place and executed and then watch to see them countered and then the spontaneous, but deliberate exercise of skills when those plans are thwarted. It's a game of mind as much as it is a physical game. But good sporting contests are mental battles as well as physical battles.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

I'm proud of you Clay. You finally understand the allure of soccer (football).

Soccer is much more improvisation than football.

 

[HopeandGlory]

But good sporting contests are mental battles as well as physical battles.

Agreed, they are. But in a good game of rugby you can have both within an action-packed 80 minute time-frame. Very often teams win against superior opposition when according to all the stats and rules they shouldn't.

Strategy, game-plan, tactics which stop the other side playing to their strengths . . . all can be and are applied.

Sometimes, it simply comes down to some teams having the Indian sign over the other.

I have tried to watch some NFL games - but I do find them boring. I keep wanting the players to tackle each other properly or just pick up the ball and run!

 

[Diuretic]

Jeez Hope, the tackles are ferocious in American football. I mean I haven't played rugby since I was a teenager and I remember copping a few weltings out on the field but some of those tackles look like they'd shake your brain out of your head if it weren't for the helmet

 

[GotZoom]

Soccer is much more improvisation than football.

There is a lot more un-improvisation going on than you realize.

When you get to the level of World Cup competition, there is very little "make this up as I go" going on.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

There is a lot more un-improvisation going on than you realize.

When you get to the level of World Cup competition, there is very little "make this up as I go" going on.

Football is much more a chess match than Futbol

 

[HopeandGlory]

Jeez Hope, the tackles are ferocious in American football. I mean I haven't played rugby since I was a teenager and I remember copping a few weltings out on the field but some of those tackles look like they'd shake your brain out of your head if it weren't for the helmet

Yes - but they're different. More blocking than tackling. The players just bounce off each other, rather than go in for a proper tackle around the legs to bring the man down.

 

[Diuretic]

Duplicate.

 

[Diuretic]

Yes - but they're different. More blocking than tackling. The players just bounce off each other, rather than go in for a proper tackle around the legs to bring the man down.

A "proper" tackle - that's value-laden I remember my rugby coach yelling at me about where to put my head when I was going in for a tackle. The point being to bring the other player down to ground as fast as possible, not allowing him to pass off to another team-mate, thereby destroying the tactical advantage of the tackle. My coach wasn't as elegant as that in language though, he tended to be a bit more blunt and kept using words like "arse" a lot.

In American football the objective is to deny ground to the other team and to maximime your time in possession of the ball when you have it. And of course in that game it's permissible to block a player without the ball (but within a certain distance of it I believe) to maximise your team's interests. For example, you might block a player who is about to hit your ball-carrier with a tackle - yes a red-bloody smothering, dragging, belting tackle. The objective of tackling the ball-carrier is to stop him but also, if possible, to burst the ball from his grasp, to cause a fumble. If there's a fumble and your team grabs the ball it's time to warm up on the sidelines because you're going to the dance.