What is the difference between rugby and american footbal?

Question

I thought it was all the same.

Answer 1

So do many people in Croatia! Well, the obvious differences are:

in am. football you can pass the ball forward in rugby only backwards.

In football you must wear hard pads and helmet for protection, in rugby you are allowed to wear only soft pads (1cm of sponge-like material) which are not compulsory.

In football team has 6 attacks in which team must gain a certain amount of yards not to lose the ball. When a player is tackled (his knee touches the ground) the attack is over. The time is then stopped. In rugby play goes on for 2 halves of 40 minutes, when a player is tackled he must release the ball and other player try to get it, the play continues.

In football you can push and opstruct opposing players from getting to your ball carrier. In rugby it is illegal to opstruct a player without the ball.

In football you can do body-check, grab the man for the head etc, in rugby body-check is illegal as well as any tackle above the shoulders or in the air.

In football, the ball is smaller and more spikey at the ends, in rugby it is bigger and rounder.

These are just basics, plenty more of it on as well as off the pitch.

Answer 2

Rugby is a global game that has a World Cup.  Gridiron is just a waste of time.  

You need pads and helmets to play gridiron.  Enough said.

Answer 3

rhuzzy. I don't know of many players in rugby that wear leather helmets or cups.

There is head gear which is very very light padding more for protection your ears and skull during rucks, but that is not compulsary. The cup that you mentioned, people over here (NZ don't wear often) In fact I am yet to see a person that wears one.

The only compulsary protection in rugby is a mouth guard.

As for the question, the differences are quite vast as stated above. Rugby is played globally and is a growing international sport, where as 'Football' is only played as a major sport in the States.

I'm not going to say who is tougher or not, comming from a rugby coountry I don't see and 'football' on TV or being played so I can't judge properly.

But it may be fair to say that rugby players are better all rounders as the same players are constantly on attack and defence with out interchanging from the bench

Answer 4

only ball is similar

Answer 5

Game play does not stop as much in Rugby, the kicking game is more important, no pads accept the cup, and leather helmut.

I am american, I would love to see a great rugby team from america, I know its possible, we just dont have our talent playing this sport yet.

Answer 6

They both have a lot of similarities as american football derived from rugby, however there are many major differences.

Rugby is an 80 minute match with one break at 40 minutes,American Football is made up of 4 15 minute quarters however a game of football generally goes on for hours as there is many instances when the clock stops like if a pass is incomplete.

In American Football all positions have a primary roll, like passing for a quarterback but they also have to be able to do many other things like a quarterback has to be able to run often throughout the game. In rugby however all positions are expected to be able to do many things like a good outhalf has to be able to kick,pass,run and tackle.

Also in american football,there are two different squads of 11 men to play on offense and defence and in rugby there is just one team of 15 men to play the entire match.

There are many many more differnces that I have not listed here but the best way for you to see them is not to read but rather watch a game of both sports,I am a rugby player in Ireland and I love watching both of them.

Hope this helped

Answer 7

In rugby the players don't wear large amounts of padding. Rugby is more brutal

Answer 8

Rugby players are complete athletes on the field where they run, pass kick and score tries where gridion you have an attacking team and a seperate defensive team on the one side so they inter-change depending on if you are defending or attacking.Rugby players dnt wear padding they tackle and get tackled through the whole game which is demanding on the body, you must be mentally tough to play

Gridion players wear enormous amount of padding,helmets,3quarter pants with thigh,knee and groin padding,chest ,elbow and massive shoulder pads etc..but they can hit you harder and faster than a rugby player that is what purely a defensive team in a gridion team is trained for and thats all they do on the field ,but all round its safer to play gridion.