Rugby football is far more physical and the plays far more extensive than American football so why all that ridiculous gear, are they just a bunch of softies?

脜sshole Barry,

Why do stupid, idiotic 脜ssholes like you put meaningless questions like this.

Go change your panties u panzy. Stop sucking prick.

I assume you dont play either sport.
Get off the couch/computer.

I'd pay to see you play it without any protection!

American are obviously smarter then Aussies - Not softies - Just smarter

they use all of the equipment for the protection

they are more injury prone due to the speed of the collisions. in rugby they do tackle in close quarters but in football the players get a running start before the tackle.

i played rugby through high school, and in rugby there usually arent 350 pound guys falling on you.

um...I would agree that rugby is more physical, but they also train differently

Rugby players are usually stocky, built for that sport,

Alot of football players are more built for speed, a finely tuned machine if you will

Also the guy above me has a good point, I had my rival schools right tackle fall on my chest, and he broke 4 ribs even through my rib pads

In american football they get tackled from the front.. rugby they get tackled from behind...

its comparable to being hit head-on in a car by another car coming towards you- opposed to getting rear-ended by another car (obviously there's much more carnage in the head-on crash)

okay, i'd love to see you get tackeled by a 300+ pound guy without it.

Ingnorance must be bliss!

The average playing span of a pro footballer (in the states) is three seasons.

The average hit is equivalent to a 30mph car crash (against a wall)

More players are paralised each season than any other sport on the planet.

Martin Johnson and many other pro rugby players think that American Football Players are mad (largely because of the above)

Most pro Receivers, Cornerbacks and Halfbacks could make the world 100m finals.

A Superbowl winning team usually has a bad follow up season through injuries from a long winning season.

I could keep going for ages if Ihad the time!

ROFL.

Rugby is for men that like to touch other men that are half naked. Football is for men that wont touch other men unless there is something like padding separating them. Rugby players better wear cups otherwise I am really gonna laugh.

You've never played American football, have you? This is an old debate...you'd really have to play American football to understand.

Because ther is no rougher game in the world besides football (not 'america football' because we all know the other brand is really soccer or rugby not football at all.. hahaha)

It's part of the game.!!!

just from personal experience and mind you this happend during practice at a 8th grade level. I was tackled high and I spun around midair to land almost directly on my head/neck...the only reason I'm walking is because of that body/head protection..

quite the contrary. As a youth, all of us in America who are athletic played pickup tackle football without equipment before we played organized football with equipment. Without equipment the method of tackling is considered arm tackling. This form is much like that of rugby. As a youth, those who went on to organized football learned the proper ways to tackle by sticking your face into your opponents chest while wrapping your arms around will continueing to drive your legs. While the equipment might appear to make the players look as if they are invulnerable to injury to those that never put equipment on and participated in tackling drills, it is quite the contrary. You are making this judgement based on your observation of seeing football on a two dimensional television set. I'm sure if you observed this kind of action from the sidelines of a football game where the 3 dimensional action is right before your eyes you might think differently. For one, with equipment, players run into each other at maximum speeds in American football, which is not the case in rugby.
The combination of size and the speed of American football players is unmatched. The speed of the game of American Football increases considerbly from each level from high school to college with the biggest jump to the professional level. The speed of rugby does not come close to matching the speed of football at all comparable levels.
Watch the games this weekend. Watch the running backs like LaDanian Tomlinson. When you watch him, remember that he weighs 221 lbs. Watch Jamal Lewis and remember that he weighs 245 lbs.Watch Joseph Addai and remember he weighs 214 lbs. Watch Reggie Bush and remember he weighs 203 lbs. Watch Deuce McCallister and remember he weighs 232 lbs.
Watch Shaun Alexander and remember he weighs 225 lbs.
Watch Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones and remember they weigh over 220 lbs. Watch Brian Westbrook and remember he weighs 206 lbs.
Tomlinson , Westbrook and Reggie Bush, there is not a rugby player in the world that can match these guys speed and quickness. There is also not a rugby player in the world that could compete in the NFL, excluding punters and kickers of course. If there were such a player, he surely would have made a try at it as American Athletes are paid considerably more than any rugby player.

American football is more violent than Rugby, plus keeps the queer Aussies from checking out the players

sissys to be exact, and rugby is just a bunch of englishman trying to cop a feel on each other while in a big circle jerk. You put some pads on and go out there with men 2X as big as rugby sissys and see how you fare....

Say that to a football player's face, you Eurotrash!

simple put people care about American Footballers health and could care less about Rugby players since when was the last time 45 million people watched a rugby game on TV. and if I'm paying 16 million a year for someone I want to make sure that my investment is protected

No. Rugby is not nearly as physical as American football. Guys running full speed lower their shoulders and drive it directly into you. I have seen guys do complete flips purely from the impact. I've seen a lot of rugby, and it just isn't at the same level. Back when football first started, they didn't have pads, and it was a lot like rugby. But the pads allowed them to hit a lot harder, so they did, so they needed better pads, and so on and so on.

If Ray Lewis ever hit a small weak little Aussie or Brit rugby player w/o pads they would die on the spot.

you are seriously joking right? maybe you should try the sport? with 300+ guys tackling each other maybe you should try and see if you would not break anything. you must think first. and throwing and running with such speed they need protection to keep themselves from ruining their lives. And plus it is entertainment for the AMERICAN people so really it does not concern any one else. and we care about our boys.

The biggest difference between the sports is that rugby is fluid and American Football is static, i.e. there's a gap between each play, whereas in rugby you can have 20+ phases going from ruck to maul to ruck and so forth. When added to the fact that gridiron has unlimited substitution and positional specialists, whereas rugby players are homogenising more and more, that means in practical terms rugby players are built for stamina, gridiron for explosiveness. I read once that the force generated in an OL/DL block would move 33 tons by an inch. Linemen have to wear protection or they would die, end of discussion, and once you've got some players wearing pads and helmets it's unsafe to have other players without it!

They wear it cuz it's a rough sport and the fact that they wear padding means they can actually hit each other harder than if they weren't. I read somewhere that being tackled by a linebacker is like being hit at 80mph or something; so i wouldn't really wanna try that without some kinda protection!

So their careers last longer than 3 years. Remeber that EVERY play has contact and almost always results in a tackle.

because the Americans can't play proper mens sports, and they are not as fit as Rugby League players!