Why do they say it takes leather balls to play Rugby?

Question

They use leather balls in American football, baseball, basketball and soccer as well.

I noticed that there were few responses to the questions in the Rugby section. I wonder if this will evoke a reaction?

Answer 1

You have to have "lekke groot en sterk" balls to play a sport which can ultimately kill you. Can also paralise you easily and get a shiner every game.

You have to be tough. Football is a great contact sport but Rugby you have all that contact without that safety gear. Also there is no team only for defence or only offence. It is one team against the other for eighty beautiful minutes of backbreaking cursing and the best of all tries!!!!!!

Answer 2

It's a crude (if accurate) pun.  Rugby is a rather rough full-contact sport.  Yes, even rougher than football.  Ergo the players have to be pretty tough as well.  I leave the rest as an exercise to the reader.

(Oh, and *never* pick a fight with a rugby player.  Not only are they highly pain resistant, they tend to move in groups.)

Answer 3

Because Rugby is tough and fierce, not like pansy soccer, no offence meant.  Fierce tackling, grabbing and thrusting to the ground, you need pretty big guts and balls to do that, leather just proves how tough it is

Peace

-Wallabies

Answer 4

we love leather

Answer 5

Real men play Rugby, and they have balls of leather - if you asked this question in the Rugby section they were either too busy drinking real ale or just couldn't stop laughing for long enough to respond

Answer 6

Just to add some more information to the story about how tough the rugby players are, the ball used to play rugby was also leather.  This was years ago, and the ball would get heavier, the wetter it got. Therefore, the phrase had the two meanings, and depending on who you were talking to it was either you play with leather balls (around women and society), or you had leather balls (around everyone else).