American Football vs. Rugby

[Ripper]

What's money got to do with anything? Soccer Player's get paid more than everyone (except Tiger Woods) and they do even less than most contact sports.

And on a whole, NFL Players are taller than your average Rugby Players - Most Decent QB's are roughly the same size as most Flankers and Locks - and they are dwarfs compared to Lineman.

And the problem with steroids is that they are tested for, but there are some that you can't test for (such as HGH) which chances are affecting sports worldwide and there's no way anyone can tell.

 

[KZNSharksFan]

And also you know why they are better athletes i will give you a list of NFL players with their stats you match them to their rugby counterparts. (And remember these stats are all from when they are collegiate amateurs prior to entering the NFL)

Calvin Johnson WR Detroit Lions:
6ft5in, 239 lb / 196cm 108kg
4.35s 40 yard dash
45in vertical (114cm)
335lb bench press

Vernon Davis TE San Fran 49ers
6ft3in, 253lb / 1.91m 115kg
4.38s 40 yard dash
42in vertical
Completed 33 repetitions of 225lbs
Bench Max 465lbs
Squat Max 685lbs

Julius Peppers DE Carolina Panthers
6ft7in, 283lb / 2.01m 128kg
4.5s 40 yard dash
35-37inch vertical
Bench press over 400lbs

Terrell Owens WR Dallas Cowboys
6ft3in, 218lb / 1.91m 99kg
4.16s 40 yard dash

I'm not anti rugby like you are trying to make me sound, in fact i enjoy it a million times more than football.. but you have to admit that NFL players are bigger, faster, and stronger than rugby players, anyone who says otherwise is out of their mind.

Here is an article written about it.. and it sums it up pretty much:
http://www.ballsout.com/art_rugbynfl.htm

There is only one false fact to my knowledge and that is that the players doing the 40yard dash get a running start, they dont.
[/b]

Sorry, I didnt read the whole thread, i just read a few of the posts and didnt get the full picture. Still, you need to settle the **** down. That much stress is not healthy.

Bryan Habana

96kg
1.80m
4.66 seconds for 40 m
175 kg bench press (386 lbs)

NOTE- 40 yards is only equal to 36 Metres

He's not quite as big but he's a damn sight faster and stronger for his size

 

[chochome]

You should sea a great serie about american football in highschool who called Friday Night Lights.
That show the mentality of this sport and the importance in few states.

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

Comparing athletic prowess is kind of silly, NFL players are faster and stronger because they can afford to lift weights all the time and don't have to worry so much about weight gain impacting their endurance. Rugby players have to keep moving for 80 minutes, so they can't focus on top-end speed and strength as much.

NFL players are very, very good at their specific tasks, but they don't have to be nearly as well-rounded. The best NFL kickers make Johnny Wilkinson's leg look weak and inaccurate, but they don't have any handling or tackling skills whatsoever.

Just out of interest, what is the drug testing system like in the NFL?[/b]

Random tests, year round. Every player is tested at least once a year. The list of banned substances is very long, obviously including steroids, but it also some dietary supplements. They also test for recreational drugs, although those are not performance enhancing.

Currently, the NFL does not test for HGH, because an accurate urine test for HGH does not exist, and the Player's Union (yes, NFL players are unionized) will not consent to blood tests. The NFL gave some money to an anti-doping group to develop a urine test for HGH, not sure if they've made progress.

Originally posted by shtove

How do they play it in high schools? Surely they don't have the resources for so many players, and need to speed things up a bit. Or is it a mini version of the professional game?

High school teams can approach 100 players at most larger schools. It varies, though. The biggest schools can draw crowds of 30,000+, and they do charge admission (usually about $5), so they have the money for equipment and facilities and so forth.

The games don't last quite as long, but only because there are no commercial breaks.

 

[candybum]

Comparing athletic prowess is kind of silly, NFL players are faster and stronger because they can afford to lift weights all the time and don't have to worry so much about weight gain impacting their endurance. Rugby players have to keep moving for 80 minutes, so they can't focus on top-end speed and strength as much.

NFL players are very, very good at their specific tasks, but they don't have to be nearly as well-rounded. The best NFL kickers make Johnny Wilkinson's leg look weak and inaccurate, but they don't have any handling or tackling skills whatsoever.
aks. [/b]

That makes sense some what... But when you say NFL kickers make Wilkinsons leg seem weak and inaccurrate, do you mean goal kicking or general punting? Because i've only seen NFL kickers kick Field goals from practically only in front of the posts. Where as Wilkinson (and other rugby goal kickers), kick from all around the field, left, right of the posts.

Or are you refering to some other inaccuracy?

 

[Grimm5]

Honestly the only thing I can add to this topic is "Don't knock it until you've tried it". I was hard-core pro-rugby/anti-gridiron until I was talked into playing football in high-school, and it's a ton of fun. A lot of the skills (running, tackling, ball handling) translate quite easily.

As for the issue of pads, they are as much a weapon as they are protection.

 

[schismatic]

so anybody watching the superbowl tonight? i've £50 on the giants to lose within 11 points. I think the pats will win but it will be closer than we think.

 

[Nidhogg]

I like Rugby better, but both sports can be fun to watch if you know what's going on.

 

[shtove]

Originally posted by shtove

How do they play it in high schools? Surely they don't have the resources for so many players, and need to speed things up a bit. Or is it a mini version of the professional game?

High school teams can approach 100 players at most larger schools. It varies, though. The biggest schools can draw crowds of 30,000+, and they do charge admission (usually about $5), so they have the money for equipment and facilities and so forth.

The games don't last quite as long, but only because there are no commercial breaks. [/b]

Not quite as long - so, three hours?

In Ireland you regularly get a crowd of 25,000 at the Leinster Schools Senior Cup final (under-18) at Lansdowne Road, admission by fee as well (although proceeds go to the IRFU). But it's an exceptional competition that you wouldn't get in other countries - basically about ten competitive schools within a forty kilometre radius of Dublin City centre.

I suppose senior school squads consist of about fifty, if you include first and second teams, but only about twenty get picked for the match day.

Most of the schools are all-boys, so the cheerleaders are usually roaring lunatics with broken noses and megaphones, too old to make the squad. A beautiful sight.

 

[bizzler]

The official rules of the NFL combine 40 yard dash is that a player gets to decide when to start running and the timer has to react to him starting not the other way around. Official statistics show that this makes the runners time about 0.2 secs faster than it is.

On the other hand the 40m dash run by Habana and several other rugby players recently has the runner reacting to the timer's whistle, this adds approx 0.12 seconds to the time. That means to make it fair you should ass 0.32 secs to the NFL player's time or remove the same margin from the Rugby players. What is more the NFL's 40 yards is only 36m and so 4m shorter than what is run by the Rugby players. This means Habanna's 4.66 becomes a 4.34.

The fastest ever official recorded 40 yard time at the NFL combine was 4.32 (not 4.2, these have all been proved as fakes or bad timing, fact), Habanna was able to run 0.02 secs slower than the fastest ever officially recorded NFL over an extra 4m, this means he would easily have beaten the fastes NFL time. Habanna has also stated that this was when he was not at peek fitness.

Another thing, most NFL franchises have admitted that they lie/exagerate players strength and speed in their public stats to make the players seem more impressive.

What is more there are rugby players just as strong as NFL players. For example Andrew Sheridden is able to bench press 260kg, that is approx 572lbs, comfortably more than any of the players listed above. Also Rugby players do not focus on bench press strength (which is actually next to meaningless) they do most of their work on their backs etc, which are the muscles which really count in a physical sport, even if they do not make you look like a flashy, fancy bodybuilder.

Next, Rugby players are so much tougher than NFL players. NFL fans swoon over the hits/tackles, which are no bigger than those in Rugby, where as in Rugby the hits are no where near the hardest/toughest aspect of the game. An NFL player would not last a minute in the scrums, rucks and mauls which take place in Rugby.

Finally, a leading steroids producer and retailer who was arrested last year in the Athletics drugs fiasco, admitted to having been supplying steroids to well over 200 NFL players. If one organisation supplied this many players how many do you think were being supplied in total? Drugs test are next to meaningless now as there are so many ways to beat the system and avoid tests as well as new drugs in production which cannot be picked up by any test.

Sorry about the long annoying rant, I don't normally like to get involved in this debate but...

 

[DC]

the nfl combine's 40yard dash is the most accurate, because it is run via lasers when the player passes the first lazer the time starts when he passes the second it stops

 

[bizzler]

The timing in the NFL combine 40yard dash is actually started manually (this is where the time defecit occurs) but stopped by lasers. Each run has three timers, one done like this, and two others done by hand.

edit: I apologise for a mistake in my above rant a 40 yard time of 4.22 secs was indeed run by Darell Green, this was classified as an official time, although doubts have been cast over the time as it was taken entirely by a manual stopwatch. The laser aided time showed him to be about 0.2 secs slower.

 

[ct5845]

As another poster said you cannot comprare physicalities. Rugby is much more of an all-rounder based sport, there are specialities which, but alot less then in NFL.

Plus does the sport which has the strongest or fastest man make any difference. From what i've heard from friends who've played american football, rugby is much more of a team-game, whilst american football has alot of "ego". Not that either makes one better than the other clinically, but rugbys my choice.

 

[KZNSharksFan]

The official rules of the NFL combine 40 yard dash is that a player gets to decide when to start running and the timer has to react to him starting not the other way around. Official statistics show that this makes the runners time about 0.2 secs faster than it is.

On the other hand the 40m dash run by Habana and several other rugby players recently has the runner reacting to the timer's whistle, this adds approx 0.12 seconds to the time. That means to make it fair you should ass 0.32 secs to the NFL player's time or remove the same margin from the Rugby players. What is more the NFL's 40 yards is only 36m and so 4m shorter than what is run by the Rugby players. This means Habanna's 4.66 becomes a 4.34.

The fastest ever official recorded 40 yard time at the NFL combine was 4.32 (not 4.2, these have all been proved as fakes or bad timing, fact), Habanna was able to run 0.02 secs slower than the fastest ever officially recorded NFL over an extra 4m, this means he would easily have beaten the fastes NFL time. Habanna has also stated that this was when he was not at peek fitness.

Another thing, most NFL franchises have admitted that they lie/exagerate players strength and speed in their public stats to make the players seem more impressive.

What is more there are rugby players just as strong as NFL players. For example Andrew Sheridden is able to bench press 260kg, that is approx 572lbs, comfortably more than any of the players listed above. Also Rugby players do not focus on bench press strength (which is actually next to meaningless) they do most of their work on their backs etc, which are the muscles which really count in a physical sport, even if they do not make you look like a flashy, fancy bodybuilder.

Next, Rugby players are so much tougher than NFL players. NFL fans swoon over the hits/tackles, which are no bigger than those in Rugby, where as in Rugby the hits are no where near the hardest/toughest aspect of the game. An NFL player would not last a minute in the scrums, rucks and mauls which take place in Rugby.

Finally, a leading steroids producer and retailer who was arrested last year in the Athletics drugs fiasco, admitted to having been supplying steroids to well over 200 NFL players. If one organisation supplied this many players how many do you think were being supplied in total? Drugs test are next to meaningless now as there are so many ways to beat the system and avoid tests as well as new drugs in production which cannot be picked up by any test.

Sorry about the long annoying rant, I don't normally like to get involved in this debate but...
[/b]

Nice :bravo:

 

[RC]

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that the 2 different sets of ahtletes cannot be compared, because they are too different from one another.
I just enjoy both sports and resect both sets of athletes for all their different qualities.

 

[DC]

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that the 2 different sets of ahtletes cannot be compared, because they are too different from one another.
I just enjoy both sports and resect both sets of athletes for all their different qualities.

[/b]

Finally someone who understands the point i was trying to make..

 

[rugbymanaussie91]

american football is better to watch..rugby is better to play

 

[BLR]

american football is better to watch..rugby is better to play
[/b]

I think most people outside of the US will probably disagree with you on that point....

 

[DC]

<div class='quotemain'>
american football is better to watch..rugby is better to play
[/b]

I think most people outside of the US will probably disagree with you on that point.... [/b][/quote]

Except for one team that i care very much about i live inside the USA and i disagree with that point

 

[Fowlet]

I wonder how fast jason robinson could cover 40 yards...

Or could before he stopped training.