Switching From Football To Rugby

[Gill]

I like watching some sports on TV. I can dip into cricket, American football and even the odd bit of horse racing now and again. However, the main attraction for me has always been football. Recently, I've become somewhat disenchanted with it. I don't know why - it may be that the players behave fraudulently on the pitch and show disrespect for match officials. It may be that the players get wages that are obscenely high (it would take my husband 20 years to earn what John Terry earns in one week). It may be that clubs want to win at all costs and will even field a complete team of overseas players to do so.

The rugby world cup is clearly a showcase for that sport and it would be ridiculous to expect that standard of play to be endemic. Nevertheless, the few clips I've seen on TV suggest that it's a game with an integrity which is missing from football. But it's a sport I know nothing about! Are there any rugby fans out there who can point me towards a "Rugby For Dummies" website? I'd like to learn more about the game.

Gill

 

[tim]

Gill

Try this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/bsp/hi/rugby_union/rules/html/default.stm

Cheers

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Tim beat me to it - the BBC academy sites are fantastic.

Glad to see you coming over the the 'real' game :wink: :lol:

Try going to a match - watching the Leicester Tigers beat a team is a real treat (my wife seems to like watching those rugby players a little too much :roll: :wink: ) and the atmosphere between home and away fans and the teams is great

 

[motownmartin]

Must agree with Tony, Welford Road is a prefered venue to Walkers Stadium these days, where else can you have a pint watching a game and chatting with the other teams fans, it's not so good at Gloucester though, perhaps thats because they don't have Football team in the league

 

[Gill]

:lol:

I doubt you'll see me wrapped up against the cold in Leicester or Gloucester but you never know. I might end up somewhere more local - apparently there's a team in Bromsgrove.

Thanks for the links. I'm slowly trying to reach an understanding of how it all works .

Gill

 

[Slim]

I've just read through the BBC link and watched the videos, and blimey! It must be a difficult job being a rugby referee!

I've followed rugby for many years, but have only just realised how complicated the rules are. :?

 

[Woodmagnet]

I played for my grammer school(4 years), and i
still get confused at times.

 

[newt]

Gill I know what you mean about over paid petulant footballers, I go and watch my local side Salisbury although they are now pro they still seem to play because they enjoy. They do not earn very much.

 

[Slim]

I often wonder how inadequate footballers must feel when they watch a rugby match. Footballers are wimps. If they are tripped, they roll about on the floor like they have stood on a landmine. (And they wear shin pads!).

On the other hand, it is not unusual to see rugby players still running around with serious gashes to their heads. They get stamped on in rucks, and quite often have 5 or 6 18 stone guys lying on top of them. Do they complain? No.

The other thing I like about rugby is the honesty and sportsmanship. I remeber watching Scotland playing in the 6 nations. I think they were playing Wales. One of the Scottish players was unjustly penalised by the referee and sent to the sin bin. It appeared that he tripped one of the welsh players but this was not the case. The welsh player who was the suposed victim of the trip walked up to the referee and said " Actually, hed didn't trip me I just fell over". Can you imagine that happening during a football match? I can't.

 

[Vormulac]

Try going to a match - watching the Leicester Tigers beat a team is a real treat (my wife seems to like watching those rugby players a little too much :roll: :wink: ) and the atmosphere between home and away fans and the teams is great

So you didn't watch them get spanked by Sarries on Sunday then Tony? :twisted:

I agree totally though, the atmosphere at a Rugby match is brilliant, there simply isn't the aggro between fans that you so often find at football matches.

V.

 

[Saintsman]

I agree with all this: the average footballer wouldn't last 2 minutes on a rugby pitch.

Because it is such a violent game the rules are strictly applied and the ref's word is final (oh that that were the case in football !)

The passion shown by fans and players is equal to or surpasses that in football, yet as soon as they've finished knocking the *@! out of each other, the players are sharing a beer in the bar. Fans segregation ? Don't make me laugh, it's simply not necessary.

Tony: if I'd known you were a Tiggers fan I wouldn't have been so friendly ! Looking forward to beating Tiggers next year at Franklins Gardens (as soon as we get out of ND1, I know, I know......)

Paul

 

[dedee]

Don't get hung up on understanding the rules. If the players understood what was going on there would be far fewer penalties.
I think it was Jonathon Davies (sp), after switching codes then back again, when asked whether coping with the different rules in League and Union replied that he never understood them in the first place.

Andy

 

[Woodmagnet]

:lol: Nice one Andy. :lol: