Your challenge is to make American Football or Rugby have occupied around the same popularity worldwide as soccer does. What would it require for soccer to be relegated to a very niche sport only seriously played in South America and England? I know colonialism had a very large part to play in the expansion of soccer, what could have made rugby the more exported game? Could American GIs export Football to Europe and Asia during WW2 and the Cold War? How about the Middle East? Why is it that the more strength and toughness based games are less popular than soccer?
AHC American Football and Rugby Triumphant
- Thread starter Demothenes
- Start date
I always thought if the US join WWI earlier perhaps the youth used to playing our football plays it oversees in downtime and it spreads to Britain and France.
Driftless
Donor
I do think part of the equation for American football is the need for specialized/expensive equipment, especially as you climb farther up the skill level food chain. With specialized equipment needed for an entire tea, the higher the price tag. That hasn't helped the game translate as well elsewhere.
I think another piece that hasn't translated as well, is start/stop nature of the of the American football game, with a lot of stop..... in between plays. Baseball & Cricket both contend with varying interest levels due to their "deliberate" pace. Some call that dramatic, others call it boring.
Soccer & Rugby, by comparison stand up well on the action level. Rugby also should score well on the physical contact level too.
I think another piece that hasn't translated as well, is start/stop nature of the of the American football game, with a lot of stop..... in between plays. Baseball & Cricket both contend with varying interest levels due to their "deliberate" pace. Some call that dramatic, others call it boring.
Soccer & Rugby, by comparison stand up well on the action level. Rugby also should score well on the physical contact level too.
Something I never understood about American Football as an Australian is why they have a need for padding. I mean, the sport appears to have the same level of contact and physical violence that rugby does. If you just threw in a few rules here or there regarding above the shoulder/bellow the knee tackles, American Football could easily be played professionally without all the fancy equipment.
As a Football player, I can tell you that to a certain extent the padding makes it fun, just the thrill of grabbing your opponent by the shoulder pads and throwing him to the ground is exhilarating, not to mention that you look straight big. There was also a big pushback against Football in the early 1900's. they needed to be seen doing something to make the sport safer so they added pads, whats funny is that it may have actually made it more dangerous in the long run.
Driftless
Donor
I played American football in high school in the previous millenium... along with a brief stint of rugby in college. The contact part was definitely part of the fun. I found rugby to require far better conditioning than I had....
I think your point about the un-intended consequence of the pads is accurate. If you see a professional athlete going 300 lb/ 136kg, who runs a 4.5-5 sec 40 meter dash - the basic physics lead to injury (mass x acceleration = force)
I understand how the popularity of soccer/football took off across the world. Comparatively simple rules, action is much more continuous, limited equipment - so it can be played in almost any environment at any skill level, but the mastery is the hard part. I am surprised that rugby has not acheived the same level of interest for the same basic reasons.
How much of their relative popularity goes to the old adage: Soccer is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans, and rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen?
On a bit of a tangent here, but one of the all time great comparison of Baseball (and probably much of Cricket) to American Football by George Carlin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmXacL0Uny0
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Flocculencio
Donor
One issue is that soccer has far less potential for delibitating injury than Rubgy or Gridiron. That makes it a much more attractive game for working class people who can play recreationally in their free time without (as much) fear of a crippling injury which will leave them unable to support their families all because of a game.
This. All you need for a Association Football pitch is eight markers (denoting field limits and goal area) and a ball, but for Gridiron Football, particularly the North American variety, you need so much more.
It's a matter of cost, as well as culture. Now add the frequent halting of the game, and it's an entirely different animal. Where a fan of American football is more attuned to focusing in on each play with short bursts of sharp focus, that intensity cannot be maintained for a full 90-120 minutes. Conversely, a viewer accustomed to sustaining a moderate but consistent focus over the course of three hours, with that rough 2:1 ratio of stoppage to active play... It's just not likely.
In any rugby timeline you need to bear in mind that there are two rugby's and a POD after 1900 (after 29th August 1895 to be precise) makes a genuine world game more challenging. Until the latter half of the twentieth century the Rugby Football Union was the de facto international governing body of the Union code; staunch advocate of amateurism and conservative with a small 'c'.
If you need a PoD after 1900 then go for 1907. New Zealand doesn't split codes, followed shortly afterwards by Australia. This prevents rugby league ever having an international dimension, cements a single football code in New Zealand and in NSW and Qld. Whilst, with hindsight, the development of rugby league never truly threatened rugby union after 1914, it set the Union game back a generation by which time soccer had become the main sport in England and gained an international foothold.
If you need a PoD after 1900 then go for 1907. New Zealand doesn't split codes, followed shortly afterwards by Australia. This prevents rugby league ever having an international dimension, cements a single football code in New Zealand and in NSW and Qld. Whilst, with hindsight, the development of rugby league never truly threatened rugby union after 1914, it set the Union game back a generation by which time soccer had become the main sport in England and gained an international foothold.
Saphroneth
Banned
The thing about Soccer is that you can play it - not only with very little equipment, but (crucially) on any relatively flat terrain. You can't play Rugby on a hard surface, especially on most inner-city streets - it's a quick route to a LOT of pain. (Same for American Football on that front, though perhaps less so.)
That of course is more of an issue in city areas and less affluent countries. But a truly global sport has to have that level of applicability, especially since about half the world's population are now city dwellers.
That of course is more of an issue in city areas and less affluent countries. But a truly global sport has to have that level of applicability, especially since about half the world's population are now city dwellers.
I'm an American who's favorite sport is Rugby Union but i also love Football. There are some key differences in the sport that i feel many foreigners don't get. Football has a higher level of hard contact than Rugby. Rugby tackles are more grueling and straight hits are illegal as well as hitting/tackling a man in the air. In football almost every hit is hard while there might be a handful of big hits in rugby. A man in the air with the ball is untouchable in rugby while he's fair game in Football.
The pads seem to be an issue but i would point out that almost every rugby player wears padding under their jersey and more and more players are choosing to wear the soft helmet scrum cap. You can't really get rid of the pads in football because they are there to save lives. Every play in football begins with a crunching sound as the opposing lines ram their heads into each other trying to break thru. That is not really comparable to the controlled joining of a scrum.
About being played without the pads. Football can and mostly is played without pads for everyone except those who play on organized teams. Changing the rules here and there would just make american football into more of a free style form of rugby with forward passes. (which most pickup football games do look like) The appeal of footbal is the hard hitting action and fast paced plays. In the past Football teams were only allowed a minimum of substitutions but that was changed to free substitutions because it made the game more exciting. A sport doesn't necessarily need to be about conditioning.
I personally like the differences because it allows me to follow two sports. Though i think if all of the NFL teams were rugby teams and have always been we'd have a monopoly on the world cup