Rubgy V American Football

Sgt Diz

Sgt Diz

Active member
So there appears to be quite a few americans on this forums with a smattering of the british!

Just wondered peoples opinions about the differences and preferences between Rugby and American Football.

To me, you can't really compare the size or stamina of the players. Both sports have to have different team members with different attributes. Yes, americans footballers have to wear pads but I presume that is because of the off the ball tackling. There's alot more breakdowns in AF (fed up of typing it all out) so i'm presuming the players have a lot of burst speed and high strength. Where as in Rugby it doesn't break down as much (depending on the tactics) so the players need to have the strength but also the stamina for the drawn out phrases.

Also like I said in american football (I don't have the greatest knowledge of the game i'll admit) it seems that there are the massive blockers and then the skinnier runner, where as in rugby more and more lately all players seem to be getting bigger and also faster to deal with the very big teams such as the All Blacks.


Any thoughts?
 
Sgt Diz said:
So there appears to be quite a few americans on this forums with a smattering of the british!

Just wondered peoples opinions about the differences and preferences between Rugby and American Football.

To me, you can't really compare the size or stamina of the players. Both sports have to have different team members with different attributes. Yes, americans footballers have to wear pads but I presume that is because of the off the ball tackling. There's alot more breakdowns in AF (fed up of typing it all out) so i'm presuming the players have a lot of burst speed and high strength. Where as in Rugby it doesn't break down as much (depending on the tactics) so the players need to have the strength but also the stamina for the drawn out phrases.

Also like I said in american football (I don't have the greatest knowledge of the game i'll admit) it seems that there are the massive blockers and then the skinnier runner, where as in rugby more and more lately all players seem to be getting bigger and also faster to deal with the very big teams such as the All Blacks.


Any thoughts?
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I really think it comes down to the type of game you like, Rugby is a high speed, high endurance game but it is rather one dimensional, American Football on the other hand is a much slower paced tactical game primarily because of the forward pass.

I enjoy both games but for totally different reasons and don't consider any one sport better than the other in that respect.

In terms of size the All Black and Australian forward packs are not that big in comparison to others we prefer mobility and stamina to size but we tend to have a larger back line than most, basically the game plan is to be faster to the break downs and faster to exploit opposition mistakes thus forcing much larger forward packs to run a lot and consequently we run them off their feet and that negates their size usually by late in the first half.

South Africa and France are a more traditional heavy forward pack and lighter back line but they have an incredibly fast back line where as the "Home" nations tend to be the more traditional 10 man rugby style of play.

On the whole both sports played well are great to watch and much like yourself I can't for the life of me fathom the rules to American Football.
 
A bunch of sporting American wives told me once in Washington Dc - "We love Rugby - it gives the little guys the chance to play".
 
I enjoy watching the NFL, replays that is where they cut out about hour and a half of crap between the plays.

I think the biggest different is that an American football player has one job and that is his sole focus, a guys job is to kick the ball and then he goes off the field? 3 different teams in 1?

Whereas rugby players have the responsibility of filling every role on the field if they need to. In todays game the backs are expected to get into the ruck when the ball goes out wide, and then the forwards fill in the spots in the backline and have the ball skills to atleast pass it left or right.
 
You're kidding me right????? No offense but, theres nothin'' in the world that could be better than the NFL!!!!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!! LOL! Its just everything about the sport..the players, the teams... the strategies, the plays...man sounds like heaven :angel: oh, and the fans of course! lol!!
nfl.jpg
 
There was a saying in UK

Rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen,
Football (soccer) is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans.
 
Between the two sports I do prefer rugby.

And I do like the NZ All Blacks looks and their hakas also.

But as my attention spam is so very short I would not sit to watch both full time playing.
 
I love both of the games! That as good as each other! Though rugby is more fun to watch because it doesn't stop every 10 seconds like american football! lol.
 
MontyB said:
On the whole both sports played well are great to watch and much like yourself I can't for the life of me fathom the rules to American Football.
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I just recently found Rugby on American Television (Spike TV I think) and I've been trying to get into it. But for the life of me I can't understand the rules of it!
The main differance between the two sports, as has been pointed out, is in Rugby endurance is key. In American Football, it's all about strength and speed. That's why they wear pads in football. On every play, someone is trying to rip your head off. Don't get me wrong, I've seen Rugby hits that would rival any football hit, but it's not on every play. Both sports are fun to watch but the players are two totally different beasts.
 
John Lydon said:
I just recently found Rugby on American Television (Spike TV I think) and I've been trying to get into it. But for the life of me I can't understand the rules of it!
The main differance between the two sports, as has been pointed out, is in Rugby endurance is key. In American Football, it's all about strength and speed. That's why they wear pads in football. On every play, someone is trying to rip your head off. Don't get me wrong, I've seen Rugby hits that would rival any football hit, but it's not on every play. Both sports are fun to watch but the players are two totally different beasts.
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Your totally right. I play both sports in Britain and they are very different. Football is very rough compared to rugby and the pace is much quicker. i thought I was rather fit until I played football!
 
i play a hybrid defensive end/defensive tackle, and personally i say there completely different sports. I'm 5' 10 and around 215 pounds, so i'm quite a big guy. But again in my opinion i think the football running back overall in any sport, tevery play the get hit, either carrying the ball or blocking, they hae to drag 300 pounders around, block them too. They have to catch the ball, and make cornerbacks miss, who are incrediable atheletes.
 
Let me ask hwv you every played rugby? That is very a physically challenging game to and metally it is awful. You can never drift off, you must always be aware of what is happening around you! At the end of games I am just so exhuasted I have to cry it all out.
 
Yin717 said:
Let me ask hwv you every played rugby? That is very a physically challenging game to and metally it is awful. You can never drift off, you must always be aware of what is happening around you! At the end of games I am just so exhuasted I have to cry it all out.
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yes, its fun, but not a physical as one might expect and running backs do too, and they need to memorize exstemely complex playbook, in our offense alone, we have 23 different formations, and thats just in high school, in the NFL theirs can be easily several hundred pages thick. Also most running backs in the NFL only last a couple of seasons been the featured back, look at LT and larry johnson their practical falling apart at the seams!!!
 
Atleast with rugby you can play in a club. I don't think you can play grid iron outside of school and the pro's.
 
Bacara said:
yes, its fun, but not a physical as one might expect and running backs do too, and they need to memorize exstemely complex playbook, in our offense alone, we have 23 different formations, and thats just in high school, in the NFL theirs can be easily several hundred pages thick. Also most running backs in the NFL only last a couple of seasons been the featured back, look at LT and larry johnson their practical falling apart at the seams!!!
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I'll admit there is alot of play in American Football. Playing it myself it can be hard to memorise it all. Yet rugby for me is still much more of a make it up as you go along while American Football can be planned. Also, for the physicsal element it also depends where you play, just like football. If your a back in rugby there is a high need for good physical ability yet if your forward it's not needed as much. It's rather similar in football. But I will admit, what makes football harder is the high paced speed of the game compared to rugby and what you American's call soccer.
 
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