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View Full Version : what is the difference between american football and rugby ?



MaximB
August 20th, 2006, 05:13 AM
here in israel we don't play nor american football nor rugby
and that's a shame...I love thouse sports.
we play soccer (and don't try to tell me that it's not a men's game)
we are not very good at it but it's our "national" sport
we play it everywere.
I wached american football on TV - but the refferee always stopt the game , every minute - I couldn't wach it.
but rugby - there was the action
I enjoed every minute of it !
but I don't get it
what is the difference between american football and rugby , I mean except the masquered ???
can you explain ?

TheRingmaster
August 20th, 2006, 05:15 AM
american football is a combination of rugby and soccer. the rules are wierd I know.

slimdog360
August 20th, 2006, 05:41 AM
Im not having a go at American football or anything, but I dont like it. There is too much stopping and starting but hay thats just what I think.
I like rugby but I dont really get into it, but I do like rugby league and soccer.

Sam
August 20th, 2006, 05:44 AM
I wached american football on TV - but the refferee always stopt the game , every minute - I couldn't wach it.

Yup, I don't like that, too...

daniel of sarnia
August 20th, 2006, 06:04 AM
Also in American football you were a lot more protective gear, I mean a lot. At my school we have rugby, American football, football or soccer as it's called here, baseball and a nuber of other sports.

Rugby has a wrap here for being the more violent sport. People have a saying at my school, if you don't mind getting your ears ripped off your head then ruby is the sport for you.

But I don't know about that, the only sports I do are boxing and tae kwon do.

daniel of sarnia
August 20th, 2006, 06:09 AM
Im not having a go at American football or anything, but I dont like it. There is too much stopping and starting but hay thats just what I think.
I like rugby but I dont really get into it, but I do like rugby league and soccer.

I played american football one year, and that's pritty much why I hated it. There are so meany rules that just slow the game down that and all the gear you have to put on.

MaximB
August 20th, 2006, 07:19 AM
yes....but what is the difference with the rules ???

jacksaff
August 20th, 2006, 08:48 AM
Rugby is a game where you keep the ball away from the other team. American football is a game where you keep the other team away from the ball.

professor_chaos
August 20th, 2006, 08:57 AM
What are the similar rules between soccer and swimming??

I am no rugby expert, I have watched a dozen or so games, and many more american football games, but they are barely alike, with the exception that they both use similar shaped balls and both involve taking that ball into an end-zone of sorts.

Football, has defined players, that have defined roles (quarterback, linemen, etc) and in rugby there are no strict player roles. Football, it is allowed for the quarterback to throw the ball forward, and this doesn't exist in rugby, where only lateral and behind underhand lobs are allowed. In rugby, the only forward pass is preformed with a kick, where in football that is illegal. These are just a few...

I love rugby, but here in America, we don't get to watch it much on TV, however boring football is on all the time.

daniel of sarnia
August 20th, 2006, 09:10 AM
Rugby is a game where you keep the ball away from the other team. American football is a game where you keep the other team away from the ball.

Hahaha that is the best explanation I've herd comparing the two, it's right on.

ice60
August 20th, 2006, 10:35 AM
there's two types of Rugby - union and league. Rugby league is more similar to american football in that after, i think, 8 passes the ball is given to the other side.

tribaal
August 20th, 2006, 10:50 AM
Here we say that the only difference is that rugby is for men. :)

Sorry,, couldn't help making this joke, even if probably doesn't help you much. :)

- trib'

slimdog360
August 20th, 2006, 11:26 AM
there's two types of Rugby - union and league. Rugby league is more similar to american football in that after, i think, 8 passes the ball is given to the other side.

sort of...but its 6 rather than 8 and you can pass the ball as much as you like, its after 6 tackles, the ball gets changed over. Same sort of thing for union.

ice60
August 20th, 2006, 02:24 PM
sort of...but its 6 rather than 8 and you can pass the ball as much as you like, its after 6 tackles, the ball gets changed over. Same sort of thing for union.
of course i ment tackles, thanks slimdog; but i had no idea about how many, i was fairly sure it was 8 :rolleyes: i suppose i should admit i used to play tennis rather then rugby, now that's a man's game :mrgreen:

MaximB
August 20th, 2006, 03:03 PM
damn...I would LOVE to play rugby
if we had that sport here...
but no...we have soccer.

G Morgan
August 21st, 2006, 08:10 AM
A topic I can get my teeth into. As was rightly mentioned there are two major forms of Rugby being League and Union. Generally (and no disrespect to the RL fans) when people say Rugby they mean Rugby Union though I tend to say Union and League these days.

League is a very simple game where conditioning and skill levels under high pressure are the key. You have 5 tackles of free posession and have to turn over at the 6th. At each tackle the defending team has to back off 10 yards behind the point where the tackle took place. The game is fast and very, very hard. (as a Union player who tried League, I'd say League players are fitter any day of the week).

Union is a very complex game by comparison with whole multitudes of phases and set pieces to get your head around. The key difference between League and Union is the contest for the ball, League removed this from their game but the contest for quality and quantity of posession and territory is the key to Union. Union tends to be very rough as opposed to hard, you tend to get players putting their bodies on the line to slow posession down and this is where the ear ripping tends to come into play. These days the onus has been pushed more onto the referee to penalise players for infringement rather than having players ruck the opposition out of the way. In Union you can hold posession indefinately, its up to the opposition to take it from you either by forcing a mistake or by simply outdoing you at a set-piece or breakdown.

In both games you can only pass the ball backwards and you can only tackle the man in posession.

American Football, from my admittedly limited experience, is as different from RU and RL as they are from each other. Firstly you can pass the ball forward in NFL which gives the game a completely different shape. Secondly you can tackle a man off the ball. Thirdly you can make seemingly unlimited substitutions depending on the phase of play both Rugby codes require you to both defend and attack. The game has a very different feel to it than either Rugby code.

G Morgan
August 21st, 2006, 08:15 AM
damn...I would LOVE to play rugby
if we had that sport here...
but no...we have soccer.

Which form, the one where you have to be insanely fit and powerful in League or the one which is painful in Union*. To be honest though Union backs don't really have to put up with much pain but then again they don't really do much of anything bar put their hands in their pockets and watch as we win the game for them :mrgreen:.

*Not that Union is lacking in fitness and power I just consider the League boys to have the best conditioning for any team sport on the planet and thats not just because I can't keep up with them ;).

M7S
August 21st, 2006, 09:53 AM
Which one is played in the world cup? Union or League? Or are there two different worldcups?

Isn't there something called australian football as well?

rattlerviper
August 21st, 2006, 10:04 AM
I am live in the U.S., and was born in Belgium. Rugby and soccer are 2 of my favorite sports though I played football all through highschool. There are 2 many rule differences to compare them a better question would have been how are they the same? Anyways American Football has VERY complex rules my father is a highschool football coach, and the rulebook he is expected to know is ridiculous. The fact that he actually knows it is even more so. In europe rugby is considred to have complex rules when compared to soccer, but has no where near the rules of American Football.
To me Football is boring unless you are playing it due to the vast amount of starting and stopping. The game also drags on forever. 4 15 minute quarters turn into a 3 hour plus football game. That should tell you there is more not playing going on than playing.

G Morgan
August 21st, 2006, 10:28 AM
Which one is played in the world cup? Union or League? Or are there two different worldcups?

Isn't there something called australian football as well?

Both have world cups. The Union world cup starts just over a year from now in France. Not sure when the next League world cup is.

mips
August 21st, 2006, 12:04 PM
With american football everything is stop start and then they throw in add breaks as well. Players are dressed like the michelin man. Not a game I could watch.

(Union) Rugby you have two 40min halves where the game flows, they might stop for a serious injury but mostly you see the guys carying on while the medics attend to the broken. The only add breaks might be at halve time but we usually get a game analysis in that period. Generally referred to as 'A game played by hooligans and watched by gentlemen', dunno where they get that from.

People do play rugby in Israel, maybe you can join them:
http://www.rugby.org.il/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_national_rugby_union_team
http://rugby.technion.ac.il/
http://www.rugby.co.il/
http://www.fabianation.com/eldersofzion/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/israel-rugby/
http://www.tawomensrugby.com/home.html Even the woman play rugby.
http://www.irb.com/EN/Home/

rowanparker
August 22nd, 2006, 12:18 AM
I used to go watch my local rugby league team Keighley Cougars who are bottom of the bottom league (Or near abouts). I've seen Bradford Bulls play twice and they won both games. Bulls are topish of the top league.

The rugby league world cup is not really a world cup as only 3 nations play rugby league (Britain, Australia and New Zealand). It's the Tri Nations, and has 6 games (I think). I went to see Great Britain play New Zealand in the Tri Nations and we got thrashed. The most interesting part of the games was the mexican wave.


Rowan.

RavenOfOdin
August 22nd, 2006, 12:25 AM
Players are dressed like the michelin man. Not a game I could watch.


Just for their protection, that's all. . .since 99.9% of them weigh over 300 pounds and tackles can involve multiple players.

nalmeth
August 22nd, 2006, 12:53 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Football_League

Our field is bigger, there are less downs in a drive, our league and cup has been around much longer, and of course, our balls are bigger.

:p

welsh_spud
August 22nd, 2006, 01:07 AM
Rugby > American Football :cool:

From what I have seen of American Football (keep in mind that what Americans call soccer, Brits call Football), there are more stops in the game, which makes the whole thing a lot slower.

In rugby you have the scrum, where all the 'heavy' players on the field physically engage and kick their feet around to get hold of the ball. The point of the scrum (I think) is to remove the large 'forwards' from the game for a few seconds, and let the faster wingers run around for a while.

I'm no expert with either sport, but that is what I have been told by some friends who play the sport like a religion.

Would anyone care to explain the whole 'Hut, Hut, Hut' thing I see in some movies when they are playing Football.

KiwiNZ
August 22nd, 2006, 01:19 AM
Of course the best Rugby team in the World is the All Blacks from New Zealand :)

Johnsie
August 22nd, 2006, 02:14 AM
"Just for their protection, that's all. . .since 99.9% of them weigh over 300 pounds and tackles can involve multiple players."

Rugby players are massive too... They just aren't wimps :-p

I like Rugby Union best. I support Ulster and Ireland. Not much of a fan of anything to do with English rugby.

rattlerviper
August 22nd, 2006, 02:36 AM
Of course the best Rugby team in the World is the All Blacks from New Zealand :)

Damn straight they are...gotta love the Haka!

Rumor
August 22nd, 2006, 02:51 AM
I know nothing about Rugby.

However.

American Football: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football

Rugby league: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_league

Rugby union: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union

ice60
August 22nd, 2006, 08:20 AM
i think England are the World Champions :-\"

slimdog360
August 22nd, 2006, 09:04 AM
Of course the best Rugby team in the World is the All Blacks from New Zealand :)

dont make me laugh,hahaha.

KiwiNZ
August 22nd, 2006, 09:08 AM
dont make me laugh,hahaha.

Now , how did the Tri Nations go this year , and the Bledisloe Cup :p:D\\:D/

bonzodog
August 22nd, 2006, 02:45 PM
of course, there is always Australian rules Football....

But also, here, we ahve two very old Irish sports;

Gaelic football, and Hurling.

I heard an old man here recently describe Hurling as 'a game of death'. It is VIOLENT.
think of it this way;

It's what happens when you cross Hockey with rugby.

Rugby with a tiny little leather ball (cricket type), and wooden bats called hurleys, which you have to run across the field with. Whacking someone around the back of the shins with the bat is a legitimate tackle manoeuver. The only protection worn is headgear for the goalie.

There is even a girls version of it called 'camogie'.

Gaelic football (GAA) is very much like Aussie rules football, so much in fact that an aussie rules football team played a GAA team recently in a match. The only real difference is a few minor rules.

MaximB
August 22nd, 2006, 06:47 PM
thanks mips
I didn't know we had rugby teams
they never show it on TV.
only when I watch other sport channels in europ they show but very rearly.
4 teams in israel is better then nothing.
but soccer we have a LOT - more then a 100 teams only in israel
and that's not enuoght - they have to show every leage
britan , south america , germany...you name it.
that's the only sport they show...and basketball.
I got sick of it.
I want to see other sports.

G Morgan
August 23rd, 2006, 12:04 AM
With american football everything is stop start and then they throw in add breaks as well. Players are dressed like the michelin man. Not a game I could watch.

(Union) Rugby you have two 40min halves where the game flows, they might stop for a serious injury but mostly you see the guys carying on while the medics attend to the broken. The only add breaks might be at halve time but we usually get a game analysis in that period. Generally referred to as 'A game played by hooligans and watched by gentlemen', dunno where they get that from.

The saying is that 'Rugby is a thugs game played by Gentlemen while Football (Soccer) is a Gentlemens game played by thugs'.

We don't segregate fans in Union and theres a good spirit in the game win, lose or draw. Comparitively Football has had huge crowd troubles over the years to the point where the police have locked down city centres due to a few morons.

Saying that Union is getting worse in this aspect and I fear 10 years from now the crowds will be segregated which would be a shame*. Also Football (at least in Britain) has got much better over the last decade of so though a few idiot clubs still cause problems.

I agree that the AB's are the best on the planet currently. I still fancy the French for the RWC at home though. Theres a big doubt hanging over Umaga's replacement at the moment, its not just a matter of bedding in theres about 7 players to fill 1 position and no one has stood out. Also the French team has total control over its playing squad this year which will eliminate one of the Tri Nations teams biggest advantages in being able to limit the number of games played in the run up to the tournument.

*there was an incident last year at a Scarlets vs Blues game where a fan fronted up to Jonah Lumo which was the most ridiculous action I've ever seen. Not only is Lumo a living legend but he's also quite a large man so could have hurt him quite badly. The guy had previously been banned from every Football Stadium in Britain and now he is banned from every Rugby Stadium in Wales so at least actions are being taken.

Previously this would have been unheard of.

rowanparker
August 23rd, 2006, 12:20 AM
Also Football (at least in Britain) has got much better over the last decade of so though a few idiot clubs still cause problems.
*COUGH* Leeds United *COUGH*.

When Leeds play at home, the rest of Leeds is shut. All thought they are better than they were.

bailout
August 23rd, 2006, 12:23 AM
The saying is that 'Rugby is a thugs game played by Gentlemen while Football (Soccer) is a Gentlemens game played by thugs'.



The reason is that traditionally Rugby (esp Union) was mainly played by the upper classes whereas football was the game of the working class.

NMUrugbysteve
September 12th, 2006, 03:16 PM
American football started when the US government stepped in and said rugby was too violent. After that the scrum was dissolved and became the line of scrimmage, after that the forward pass was added, then it just got crazier.

mips
September 12th, 2006, 03:40 PM
American football started when the US government stepped in and said rugby was too violent. After that the scrum was dissolved and became the line of scrimmage, after that the forward pass was added, then it just got crazier.

Are you serious about the governmnet involvement thing ? Gives new meaning to 'the nanny state'

Luggy
September 12th, 2006, 03:42 PM
Rugby and football are ok ( much better then soccor IMO ) but the best sport is Hockey.
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1001/thecoltsapplyingpressureatthebattalionnetpc1.th.jp g (http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thecoltsapplyingpressureatthebattalio nnetpc1.jpg)

insane_alien
September 12th, 2006, 05:09 PM
american football is just rugby with a bit of armour. makes the whole thiing more boring imo. rugby ftw.

bruce89
September 12th, 2006, 06:21 PM
what is the difference between american football and rugby ?
In rugby, you aren't allowed to throw the ball forwards. The goal posts are different too.

NMUrugbysteve
September 12th, 2006, 06:33 PM
Are you serious about the governmnet involvement thing ? Gives new meaning to 'the nanny state'

Yeah, read the wikipedia link on american fooball earlier in this thread. It's all in there. I only knew because I played rugby in the US and did a report on the evolution into american football.