Rugby and football
Rugby and footballRugby and Football
The thick, broad-shouldered athlete breathes heavily and grunts with each step as he and
his teammates push mightily against the opposition. His arms are locked over his teammates'
shoulders, all of their heads down. The two teams are pushing against each other like two
moose fighting over territory. He looks down to see the ball, sitting just in front of his
feet. If he could just hook it with his foot and heave it to his teammate behind him…
This is what every player in a scrum is thinking while they fight each other for possession.
Rugby is the true sport of men, because you wear no pads, and it is even more violent than
football; however, football requires that you wear pads, thus being the true sport of
want-to-be
men.
The rules of these similar yet vastly different games are extremely complex, so only the basics
are necessary to distinguish the better sport. In football, the primary rule is that you must
advance the ball forward by throwing it or running with it. Once a player with the ball is
downed, the entire team lines up again, and the ball is snapped to the quarterback. The short
pause in-between each down may not seem significant, but it definitely takes its toll on the
excitement.
In rugby, however, the primary rule is that you can only advance the ball by running
with, kicking, or passing it. With passing, though, you can only pass the ball backwards or
directly to your side, never forward. Like football, you score by running the ball into the
endzone or by kicking it through the uprights. Also, you must touch the ball to the ground
for it to count, and it is worth five points. When kicking, the ball can be kicked from
anywhere...
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