I know they're different sports with different rules but gun to your head, which of the 2 do you enjoy more?
I ask this as someone who has never watched an NFL game.
I ask this as someone who has never watched an NFL game.
NFL vs Rugby
- Thread starter VorZakone
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I don't think I could watch an NFL game live. They take so long and there's so many stoppages.
Union. Too many stoppages in NFL and they wear too much protective gear!
(I’m only half jesting about the gear!)
(I’m only half jesting about the gear!)
I watch both and NFL is a better sport imo. Hope that helps
The amount of stoppages don't bother you?
NFL is infinitely better.
You get used to it once you watch it at a lot but the two sports are actually vastly different. Rugby more physical sport while NFL is more tactical
Haven’t watched NFL in years. Went through a phase of liking it when I was a kid. Grew out of it about the same time I stopped watching wrestling.
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I prefer to watch Union. Don’t mind NFL.
But they are vastly different tactically. The tactical nuances of NFL are actually quite interesting
I could happily watch an NFL game without the adverts.
I think I find all the ‘macho’ American energy quite cute and endearing.
But they are vastly different tactically. The tactical nuances of NFL are actually quite interesting
I could happily watch an NFL game without the adverts.
I think I find all the ‘macho’ American energy quite cute and endearing.
There is nothing more thrilling in any sport I've watched than when a team in the NFL gets the ball back with less than 2 minutes left and has to drive 70+ yards to score a game winning TD. Especially so in the playoffs.
I like both but NFL is more complex and tactical like people have already said. It also is apples vs oranges in the sense that NFL is a sprint/burst sport while rugby requires far more endurance. I would say in the past NFL players would have been likelier to get concussions/blunt trauma due to the faster sprint speeds going into collisions but the NFL has made a lot more things illegal, making both sports closer to equivalent in terms of violence. The ads suck but you can watch ad free condensed games (without all stoppages of play and ads) online an hour or two after the game finishes.
EDIT: one thing to mention also is that the NFL has incorporated a rugby element in recent years, allowing blockers to essentially continue pushing through the defense with the ball during a running play for an extended period of time until forward momentum stops, kind of like what you would see in a scrum. In the past, NFL refs would stop a play before allowing a team to continue pushing after initial contact is made, provided the ball carrier hasn't gone to ground.
EDIT: one thing to mention also is that the NFL has incorporated a rugby element in recent years, allowing blockers to essentially continue pushing through the defense with the ball during a running play for an extended period of time until forward momentum stops, kind of like what you would see in a scrum. In the past, NFL refs would stop a play before allowing a team to continue pushing after initial contact is made, provided the ball carrier hasn't gone to ground.
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I enjoy both, but I've been choosing RWC over NFL because it's once every four years. I've been catching up on the Sunday games on Monday morning.
Definitely union. As much as there is an element of discipline involved for the team, what I like the most is that there is plenty of room for the players to improvise and be creative. I feel there is just too much strategy involved in the NFL and thus it's difficult to see proper flow being built into the game.
Interesting. Didn’t know this. Can you access these from the UK?
Never mind that, you can watch 7 hours of constant action with zero adverts, every Sunday night as it happens.
RedZone is the best show in sport, no question.
YouTube. The NFL channel.
Watching live is better
I've gone off Redzone entirely lately. I tried watching it a few times lately on my projector and it just annoyed me projected so big. Redzone feels better to me on a laptop screen.
Rugby League is best 
Splitters!Rugby League is best
Both are relatively low-skill sports but rugby's definitely more watchable. Of course it helps that it finishes in less than two hours.
I mean there's a reason why America has exported every aspect of its culture to the world, but yet no one cares about the NFL. It's just not that interesting.
I mean there's a reason why America has exported every aspect of its culture to the world, but yet no one cares about the NFL. It's just not that interesting.
Compared to which sports?
Football or basketball for a start. When I watch rugby, I'm most impressed by the power and pace of the players than anything else.
Neither of these sports require higher skill to play at a high level. Power and pace will get you nowhere in Union and it's not the base of the game. The game is based on three things players skills with and without ball, players ability to read the situation and the ability to apply set plays based on what you read because Rugby isn't an improvised game nearly all plays are predetermined and a reaction to what the defense or the offense is trying to do.
Nfl being a low skill sport is hilarious and properly uninformed view
Union and American Football have a lot in common in that respect. Both games require high level skills but those skills are very different based on the position you play.
Yeah I never really enjoy these comparison threads because there really is no right answer but the idea that somehow football is the most high skilled sport in the world just makes no sense to me
Football is on the low end and relies a lot more on athleticism and tactical understanding. Funnily enough there is one thing that demonstrates the difference between Rugby/NFL and Football, footballers tend to reach the required skill level in their late teens, from that point they are generally technically good enough to play at a high level but it's the other parts of the game that will be lacking, their athleticism and game maturity.
In Union and NFL it's generally the opposite and why very young players don't actually play much. Many of the current top level U21s are physically ready but they either lack the skills or the understanding of the game.
Two different sports, in a way NFL is closer to cricket in terms of stats and numbers being part of what makes the game interesting but NFL also has so many fewer rules and once you get into it it is far easier to understand.
However being a Kiwi of course I love rugby more.
Gun to my head, it would likely be Rugby but that's more cultural than anything else. I'mgenerally perfectly happy watching lower league Rugby during Sunday afternoons on local channels. Bad NFL teams playing each others are a difficult watch and I'm not watching any XFL or their equivalents with or without gun.
I agree with the game maturity aspect, but I don't think the ages are comparable with football and NFL with the college / draft system.
Football players are taken on by the "top" clubs from a much earlier age to potentially make them ready for 16 upwards whereas it's impossible to be a rookie younger then 20 in NFL.
Well only one is a watchable sport and it's the one that doesn't have an "eight week world cup"
Weird you can say this when international NFL games sell out every year and the best stadium in the country has a second pitch for the NFL
Whereas Rugby is such a free flowing game.
Go back, you'll love it (NFL, not WWE as that is pants now. No one can cut a good promo due to the lack of cocaine and steroids).
I love you.
Best thing on TV. Me and the missus watch it every Sunday for the last four years. Just the best. Combined with fantasy football, so entertaining.
It's comparable because what I'm saying is true in college, with some exceptions freshman aren't at the required level in college and need at least a year or two as role players or even redshirted in order to get there and many of these are great athletes.
Also in both sports even after that they are often not ready when they join senior teams, every level is a challenge from skill and mental point of view. And as you said, they join later in both sports.
I reckon it's difficult to say that would still be the case if an 8 year old was trained by the 49ers until 16 though. It's a different system with the highest level being reached and trained at 20, so is difficult to be compared directly.
It would be a good point if it was the norm in Football but it's not, nearly all 8 to 15 years olds future professionals are in local amateur clubs and are only funneled to far bigger clubs in the last stage between 15 and 18. The vast majority of footballers spend most of their development in far smaller clubs than the equivalent of the 49ers and D1 college Football provides similar infrastructure and staff support than NFL franchises, sometimes better.
And those 15 to 18 years old players skill level is closer to professional level than it is in the other sports mentioned.
And I forgot to mention Rugby follows the same system than Football.