Why American football player seems to be bigger than rugby player?

Question

Why American football player seems to be bigger than rugby player?

Answer 1

First and foremost american football is a much more physically testing sport and requires excessive amounts of stamina whereas some rugby players can get by in below "peak" physical fitness.

Secondly American football players a lot of padding (head,shoulders,arm,thighs,shins) and therefore gives the impression of players being more built up

Answer 2

my bicycle is bigger than your bicycle

Answer 3

because they wher all that p***y padding s*** get hard wats with the halmets.and also because they american and they eat all that KFC and s***some of they may be bigger but the weaker!

Answer 4

Its the big american EGO'S

Answer 5

Because they are.

Dude, it's the droids.

I think Ted (Allblack coach) said the NZRFU had conducted 300 plus drug test in the last year - pretty hard to be on the droids in NZ.

You simply can't be as huge as some of those gridiron dudes with out shooting the juice - not genetically possible.

The guys who do beat the genetic odds are the Tongans - Melanesians  - Largest people on the planet. Check them out in tomorrows game against the USA  - giants !

Answer 6

depending on the position they are.

in American football: Offensive and defensive lineman

require a lot of mass. Lineman usually are between 6'4 and 6'9 and 290 390 lbs.

Rugby requires  more running so you give up some mass

for more stamina

rugby is more physically demanding from an aerobically because you don't get to rest in between plays and you on the field the whole games. in football depending on your position at most you will play half the game.

typical in football in positions that require more running  and about the same size as rugby players 6'0-6,4 and 180-250 lbs

Answer 7

The padding and the helmet.  Otherwise, big gridiron players and big rugby players are the same size

Answer 8

Most answers have addressed the reasons why. I've played Rugby, League & Gridiron (when i slowed down and had lost some fitness at 35, but still had strength and could hit and be hit, plus it was fun !) In American Football you get to be a missile, hit hard & block without being hurt, you get "tunnel vision" & feel 7 ft tall, without needing all the endurance. They focus on size and power thats about it !

Answer 9

Because of all the pansy padding.

Answer 10

Smidgebiff said this " First and foremost american football is a much more physically testing sport and requires excessive amounts of stamina whereas some rugby players can get by in below "peak" physical fitness. "

Obviously he has never played a game of rugby, in american football plays last only 30 seconds max at a time and there is constant stopages. Its not stamina its short sprint work and power. Bet few of them would be able to run and sprint for 80 mins as well as tackle, be tackled, kick and pass. Rugby is much more an all round fitness game, you can get away with just being bigger than the next guy in american football, its more specific positions than the modern game of rugby.

in american football, some guys block another pass and some more run then it turns around and is a totally different team to block & tackle, and then you have the kick, probably the safest position in any sport, one move to kick and sits his *** down again for another 20 mins.

Rugby is an all-round game that requires more "stamina" in general, each player has the basics plus a speciality like sprinting or kicking. The reason they are bigger in the NFL is for a few reasons:

1. creatine, or whatever they take...

2. amount of time just spent in the gym is 10 times more than a rugby player who trains mostly on the field

3. the simple theory that Im bigger than you4

4. wouldnt even call the football players, they are more like body builders who are brought in for 10 mins at a time to hit a guy and then go sit down again till the next time they have to hit someone.

Even college football players in the US are huge, may be able to bench twice as much as a rugby player but wouldnt last more that 15 mins on the field.



The only player that would be suited to rugby would be a running back or a reciever, they are the closet things to a flanker and a winger

Answer 11

gridiron players are fat and have no endurance. The padding also accentuates their size. But under all that padding is flab.

Meanwhile rugby players need to be faster, fitter and more enduring than gridiron players. They are also smarter

Answer 12

Forget the fact that football players wear loads of protective gear and rugby players don't (giving initial appearance of being larger), rugby player actually play the whole game instead of being brought in just for specific plays (offense, defense, etc.) which makes them [typically] more athletic, therefore, leaner. A similar example would be the difference between a sumo wrestler (short bursts of energy) and a WWE wrestler (longer 'performances'). I believe that in a specific competition between a football player and a rugby player, the rugby player would be proven to be fitter, faster and more athletic although, possibly, physically smaller.

Answer 13

1  Padding

2  Rugby Union and its counterpart Rugby League involves longer periods of play where all players come into contact with the ball and other players all the time.

3  They don't have a defencive and offencive team

4  They don't just totally focus on one area physical strength but, agility, speed, defencive and offencive patterns.

5  There other specifics of the game that need to be addressed break down rules, referee interpretation.

6  United States and Canada have the buying power and population base to actually get and source out these genetically bigger, stronger players.

7  Intensified training programs which is totally focused on even the smallest minute problem.

8  More money.