QuoteI'm in a decent position to make an objective judgement, having been a season ticket holder and regular follower or both a football club (Nottingham Forest) and a rugby club (London Irish).
Firstly, the insinuations that rugby is gay or for fat people is just as inaccurate as those rugby fans who say football is a sport for ... whatever. It isn't worth repeating. Obviously both sports have their merits, but the question is why is football more popular.
As raised earlier, the idea of a group of lads going down the park to have a kickabout is far more feasible with football. You can even knock a ball about and practice your own skills in a back yard when you're a kid, or with your brother, or whatever. What I'm saying is that numbers are far less important in football. You can throw a ball around with a mate in rugby, but tackling and such is off the menu in your back garden, unless you're up for getting pretty muddy.
I'd also point out that given the growing number of families being raised in urban areas, you can play football on concrete but not rugby. And touch rugby is too far watered down.
A lot of people are put off by the physicality of rugby. Think about school when you get introduced to the sport in PE. Some people just don't like the idea of getting hit and knocked to the ground, and having the ball is basically a target on your back, unless you're confident in your own abilities. Football is a bit more throwaway, and individual mistakes result in your team losing the ball, yes, but not stopping the game like a knock on can.
The whole class thing is still seen as more of a problem over where I live in England, I don't know how much it is an issue in Ireland. There are schools that will teach only rugby and not football. These are mostly the public schools and what have you. The inner city schools for the notional lower classes, in general, would be more likely to do football and not rugby.
As a spectator sport, I disagree with NeilMcD, I believe football is much easier to get into than rugby. Barring the offsides, football is fairly obvious. If your team kicks it into a goal without impeding the other team, then you've scored. Obviously, it's more detailed than that, but if that is all you knew, you'd be on your way. To the new spectator, the scoring system in rugby is more complicated, and refereeing decisions at a ruck can be a bit of a mystery even to a fairly seasoned viewer.
Overall, I think I could referee a football match without being out of my depth on the rules, whereas I couldn't do a rugby match, especially with the new 'experimental law variations'.
Ade
Originally Posted by mypost
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