Football v Rugby ??

[fbg40]

Watched Chelsea v Benfica last night, and although as a youngster I used to go to Chelsea a lot (lived in Fulham, now 64 years old !) I have "converted" to Rugby - last night proved me to be right. What a load of tosh it was. Every time a Benfica player was tackled he went down like a sack of spuds as though he was on death's door ! The referee blew his whistle about every 3 minutes. As far as I'm concerned they're all a bunch of prime donnas and should try 80 minutes playing rugby and see where they end up. That's it - got it off of my chest now !!
FBG40

[Nini74]

I'm a rugby girl, hubby is football all the way! tend to agree with you to be honest - but the footballers get away with behaviour like that, doing everything to try to get a free kick or penalty - the sooner those in charge put a stop to the bad sportsmanship, the better for the game I think. What kind of role model are these footballers for children? if you want your own way - pretend your hurt? cheat? Don't remember who said it, but there's a quote that "Football is a gentleman's game played by thugs, Rugby is a thugs game played by gentlemen"....

[albaqwerty]

I'm aware of that quote Nini, but like you, can't remember who said it.
I reckon football is a game played without the aid of a swimming pool.

[emmie]

always rugby, the other game is a non starter for me

[Nibble]

Looking round & oval, it seems to have been The Times is generally considered to be the original quote, i.e

After trawling through library archives of newspapers, the earliest use of the quote I could find was in 1953. In London’s “The Times” I came across an article called “The Evolution of Football” [The Times, Friday, January 30, 1953; pg. 10] discussing the various forms of football, which goes on to say:


“….a large family – Association, Rugby Union, Rugby League, Gaelic football, American football, and Australian Rules. Each clearly has its merits and may safely be left to its adherents, but one cannot refrain from repeating the story of a certain Chancellor of Cambridge University (confessing complete ignorance of all football), who was asked to sum up a debate on Association and Rugby. “It is clear,” he said, “that one is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans; the other a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.”

It would seem that this appearance of the quote in “The Times” was the source which popularised it around the rugby and soccer playing world.

[sir.prize]

“It is clear that one is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans; the other a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.”
Chancellor of Cambridge University

[Philtaz]

You're not alone, fbg40 and if opinions amongst work colleagues are anything to go by it seems to be the way things are going in general.
8-10 years ago, after a weekend of Premiership football we would always find several topics for discussion in the works rest room.
These days, nobody bothers. A lot of it seems to be as a result of the antics already mentioned i.e. diving, feigning injury, remonstrating with the ref etc.
Even the staunch Chelsea fans in work were moaning about Drogba going down holding his face in the game a fortnight ago. The Liverpool fans are all unanimous that Dalglish has lost it and just shake their heads when Carroll is mentioned.

The whole ethos behind rugby is the main reason I became a rugby ref. One lad in work (age 29) has given up playing football and fancied becoming a football ref but decided against it and said he just wouldn't want the hassle.

[ELVIS68]

I think for charity we should have a football match then a rugby match between the 2 national teams.

Would love to see the reactions of the footballers after a rugby tackle.

[Duncer]

Philatz, I take on board everything you say, but I believe you've hit the nail on the head when referring to the "Premier League". Money and greed seem to have corrupted it irredeemably.
I played both rugby and football but when it comes to watching sport I prefer football. For anyone disillusioned with the prima donnas of the top flight can I suggest getting yourselves along to a lower league club? The effort and commitment is admirable and you will see none of the play-acting so prevalent in the upper echelons of European football. The skill factor is also suprisingly high. That is why I am in love with the Irish League and Scottish "Junior" football, although if based in England I have no doubt I would be a lower league/non-league afficionado.

You are all spot on about cheating in football being endemic, but rugby has had a few notable incidents too, not to mention the eye-gouging and other unsavoury incidents, but we've been here before, haven't we?

[margie04]

Of course it's great that so many are discovering the delights of rugby, but there's a downside, viz. that the hooligan element is creeping into the spectators; e.g. booing and cheering when an opponent misses a goal kick, which is contrary to sporting ideals.

[Duncer]

The involvement of professionalism/money always changes things.

[fbg40]

Thanks for all the comments peeps, great to see that I'm not the only one with this train of thought. Thanks again
FBG40

[JackDanielsU]

Same here...some football fans think its cool though to mock rugby...egg chasers etc

i like my sports..and still love football even though supporting Liverpool now gets harder and harder, and it saddens me that decent fans cant be seen wearing their teams shirt in certain places, as they'd likely be met with violence from an opposing "fan"

Whereas rugby is completely different - you get the odd banter of "why you wearing that" - but are more likely to have a drink bought for you, then be made to feel unwelcome.

Also on the pitch itself refs get a lot more respect in rugby. Football should import a few rules in from rugby...sin bin etc

[Nummy]

Lee Evans on the differences between football and rugby....v, funny near the end, "can get pronounced dead on the rugby field, and they'll just get up and say they'll just run it off"

[owdhamer]

Prima Donna is being kind ar_____les is closer

[Androcles]

I tend to watch Non League football - much more genuine, but went to a rugby school. I don't understand FBG40's comment about the ref blowing his whistle every three minutes - in Rugby it is worse, with every tackle ending up with half of each team rolling around on the ground, before the ref either gives a penalty or a scrum, which ends up in more rolling around on the ground. The ball in hand is now a minor part of the game and kicking penalties is now more important than scoring tries. The other issue is as players are getting bigger and stronger, the injuries in rugby,especially as coaches laud "hits", despite all the stiff upper lip stuff, are getting more serious and deaths and crippling injuries are occurring. According to Dr Colin Fuller's research the risk of catastrophic injury or death in rugby is over seven times greater than in football. See:http://www.irbplayerwelfare.com/pdfs/CI_R
isk_Assessment_EN.pdf

[Dudley]

It used to be that Rugby players were gentleman at heart but the recent antics of some of the high profile players recently brings this into question. Gavin Henson and Danny Cipriani come to mind and someone was banned for a long time for eye gouging a while ago.