Rough Sports (was Invasion of Alaska )

[Legbreaker]

Down here in the southern hemisphere, terms like "armour" and "padding" are looked upon as a sign of weakness.

REAL men play games that can result in SERIOUS injury - broken arms and legs, torn tendons, even the odd spinal injury.

And do they moan about the risk? Do they dress up in fancy protection? NO, they grit their teeth against the pain, get up and play on!

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Down here in the southern hemisphere, terms like "armour" and "padding" are looked upon as a sign of weakness.

REAL men play games that can result in SERIOUS injury - broken arms and legs, torn tendons, even the odd spinal injury.

And do they moan about the risk? Do they dress up in fancy protection? NO, they grit their teeth against the pain, get up and play on!

Hell yeah! Wait a sec, are you taking the piss?

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Down here in the southern hemisphere, terms like "armour" and "padding" are looked upon as a sign of weakness.

REAL men play games that can result in SERIOUS injury - broken arms and legs, torn tendons, even the odd spinal injury.

And do they moan about the risk? Do they dress up in fancy protection? NO, they grit their teeth against the pain, get up and play on!

No, real men do really dangerous things -- like tell a girlfriend they're breaking up with that they're an insane bitch...ouch!

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Targan

Hell yeah! Wait a sec, are you taking the piss?

Why would I do that? I'm a REAL Australian male!

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

No, real men do really dangerous things -- like tell a girlfriend they're breaking up with that they're an insane bitch...ouch!

Real men marry the homocidally insane bitch, then break up with them....

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Real men marry the homocidally insane bitch, then break up with them....

I knew there was a good reason I never got married...

[Webstral]

The Irish do pretty well with insane games. I've seen hurling/hurley. For those not familiar, you get a bunch of bog warriors, divide them into two teams, give them sticks, and send them out onto the field. When the referee throws a little ball onto the playing field, the men get to chop at each other with their sticks until (quite by accident) the ball goes through an upright at either end. When this happens, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth--apparently so that the wives and the clergy will think the ball had something meaningful to do with the hacking, slashing, smashing, and bashing on the field. Eventually, one side is declared the winner, and everyone who is still capable of going to the pub does so.

Webstral

[Targan]

Thanks for moving this discusion to its own thread Kato

[kato13]

Originally Posted by Targan

Thanks for moving this discusion to its own thread Kato

No problem

11 OT posts made it seem pretty obvious.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

No, real men do really dangerous things -- like tell a girlfriend they're breaking up with that they're an insane bitch...ouch!

That's what textmessages are for on a cell phone.

[Legbreaker]

I'm certainly not suprised that the force of the rugby player was less. Afterall, they were really just lifting their oponent of the ground and putting them down again.
The gridiron player was putting his entire effort into slamming into the dummy with virtually no regard for avoiding injury due to the helmet and padding. He also gets to run off the field every few minutes and have a rest while the offensive team take over.
A rugby player is on the field for the entire game. Depending on which grade they're in, etc they might get lucky and the team gets to change maybe three players total throughout the game (40 minute halves if my memory serves). There are no breaks for television adds, there are no breaks for the change in teams, there are no time outs, it's a pure forty full minutes of smashing into each other over and over again.
Rugby league, a very similar game to rugby union is basically the same situation. Padding is minimal, a little on the shoulders and the occasional man might wear a head protection (a lighter version seen worn by amateur boxers).

[Ronin84]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I'm certainly not suprised that the force of the rugby player was less. Afterall, they were really just lifting their oponent of the ground and putting them down again.
The gridiron player was putting his entire effort into slamming into the dummy with virtually no regard for avoiding injury due to the helmet and padding. He also gets to run off the field every few minutes and have a rest while the offensive team take over.
A rugby player is on the field for the entire game. Depending on which grade they're in, etc they might get lucky and the team gets to change maybe three players total throughout the game (40 minute halves if my memory serves). There are no breaks for television adds, there are no breaks for the change in teams, there are no time outs, it's a pure forty full minutes of smashing into each other over and over again.
Rugby league, a very similar game to rugby union is basically the same situation. Padding is minimal, a little on the shoulders and the occasional man might wear a head protection (a lighter version seen worn by amateur boxers).

I have played and currently coach high school football here in the states, I have never played Rugby though I do appreciate the athletic talent needed to play.

In your post you stated it's 40 minutes of smashing into each other over and over again. Now as I have said I have never played and really never sat and watched an entire rugby game BUT I don't remember each player being slammed for a full 40 minutes, I remember seeing one guy with the ball getting slammed and a lot of others just chasing. During the "scrum" I believe, and again not trying to flame, I saw guys holding onto each other while the ball is up for grabs.

I have know kids who have gone on played both rugby in college and football in the States and they have told me that they thought american football was much tougher than Rugby.

I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer and I have friends in Australia who swear that Rugby is the toughest sport there is, and I respect there opinion. Either way, enjoy the sport of your choice!

Done because I don't want to get involved in a flame contest of which is better.

[simonmark6]

I think it's nearly impossible to compare the American Football and Rugby anecdotally because you usually end up comparing apples and oranges.

I coach rugby at my local school and I played at county and university level, I was up for selection at national level in my early twenties but wasn't good enough. Given the modern professional level of the sport, I'd be nowhere near now.

When I was at University, an American College team came touring and we played them. They were fit but lacked the skill our team had and we wiped the floor with them. My point is here that American College Rugby is not top class level and someone playing college football would be operating at a far higher level in a college football team than a college rugby team.

Later, when I went to America on a Brass Band tour, we played rugby using a scratch team against an amateur football team. We won the rugby game, they won the football game.

I have, therefore, to agree with Ronin84 that it's pointless saying one is harder or tougher than the other and enjoy whichever game tickles your fancy.

[boogiedowndonovan]

this thread cracks me up.

text messages on a cell phone? If we learned anything from the Tiger Woods scandal, if you're gonna cheat, get a second phone! Tiger, prepaid cell phone, Target, fiddy dolla!

If anyone besides me and CdnWolf is interested:

Team USA beat Team Canada 6-5 in OT for the World Junior Hockey Championship.

http://sports.yahoo.com/juniorhockey...ress&type=lgns

However, I doubt that the result will be the same for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

As for rugby, I played rugby for a bit in grad school. I never played (american) football, but my undergraduate university has a strong football tradition. I follow football and will be glued to my TV at 5pm Pacific Time tonight.

One thing that I took from rugby is that you must be in excellent cardiovascular shape. You won't see a 300 lb lineman in rugby.

Now, if I were Roger Goddell (NFL commissioner), I would do two things.

First, eliminate all pads and helmets. Players would still need to wear mouthpiece and cup, googles or eye protection optional and at players own risk.

Second, eliminate the unsportsmanlike conduct or delay of game penalties for excessive celebration.

Then lets see how many players do their funky little dances after getting a first down, sack, good hit or touch down.

We do have some rugby tradition in the United States, many colleges have rugby teams dating back to the 1800's. I look at the local University of California which has fielded a rugby team since 1882 and has won 24 national collegiate championships since 1980. Legend has it that before going to the NFL and infamy, OJ Simpson moonlighted for the University of Southern California rugby team.

While we're talking about gayness, has anyone considered Mark Bingham? He was on of the Flight 93 passengers who tried to fight back on September 11, 2001. He was gay and played rugby.


We should talk about something more substantive, like which country has the hottest women!

[Legbreaker]

Everyone definately has their own opinion and "scientific" tests (such as the mentioned video clip) to back them up. Personally I tend to think that the lack of armour and padding in full contact sports is what makes them tougher. It can also be dependant on the players mindset - if they're more interested in hurting the opposition than playing the ball.

The potential for injury in unprotected players is therefore higher than protected players in ful ontact sports. This may be why their are rules and penalties dealing with dangerous situations (only certain types of tackles allowed, sent off and/or suspended for fighting, etc).

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by General Pain

That's what textmessages are for on a cell phone.

these lads mean proper spouses married with a vicar or a peace judge or something like that .

Not the paid for variety thaty you cancel your appointment with .

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by General Pain

That's what textmessages are for on a cell phone.

Last time I broke up with anyone, I was actually lucky enough to afford a pager -- cell phones were new, weird technology.

Damn, it's been a long time. Anyone willing to buy me a decent, disease free, high-class call girl? My birthday's coming up in May...

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Last time I broke up with anyone, I was actually lucky enough to afford a pager -- cell phones were new, weird technology.

Damn, it's been a long time. Anyone willing to buy me a decent, disease free, high-class call girl? My birthday's coming up in May...

got a paypal account ?

Come on lads - its the least we can do .

You would have to post an illustrated post - celebration report though ...

[Legbreaker]

Is it just coincidence that we're discussing getting Paul a callgirl in a thread entitled "rough sports"?

I think not....