Rugby vs Gridiron - Volume1

Not a bad video. Great hits, great runs. ONly thing it doesn't show are some of the amazing throws and catches that are possible in gridiron, since it allows the forward pass. I guess the only thing to do now is for the brits and the kiwis to call the amer. football players panzies for wearing pads--somehow discussions between rugby fans and gridiron fans come to that and grind to a halt. (admin: if I remember right, it's "Gnarls" Barkley, not "Knarls.)

in my opinion the pads are not the most important point. The real difference is the temp of the two games. AF is all about unbelievably fast hard play for a few seconds then stop. Rugby is a marathon.

Big fan of AF and played rugby all my life, so this was a nice surprise!Good video and looking forward to the next volume!

Gridiron would be ok without pads and pauses. 60 minutes (48?) At that pace , without any time outs (only the standard pauses), would be already much better, though. On the other hand, I keep thinking league gets the best runs, when teams try to do a whole field within the set of six you can get some brilliant things. ...and I am a "unionist" ;)R

The hit on 2:24 Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge

It's a great video, and gridiron is a good sport to watch. But, like one of the anonymous said up there, the temp makes all the difference. I watched the super bowl 2007 (tried at least) and its more about the shows and the concerts than the sport itself.While in rugby whatever the code its all about the sport. If it wasn't for that I'd be a fan of AF!

Dunno AF just doesnt rile me. I am sport mad enough to know that I will enjoy it if I give it time BUT what really attracts me to rugby is the culture. It is kind of snooty , f* you. The culture of AF is such a reflection of US that I kind of loose interest right there.

Love Gridiron, and love rugby...major hits in both codes. I believe the rugga players arent as big as the AF players for the simple fact that they run more, can you imagine one of those monster linebackers all of 350lbs runing around almost continually for 40mins? LOL...I think that AF's wide receivers would do well in rugga them boys got speeeeeeed.

Blasphemy!!!

awesome video. cheers.

I love both sports, and i'd love to see a gridiron running back play rugby, I bet he would tear it up. And as for the pads debate, AF wouldn't be possible without pads, the nature of the tackles and hits makes them necessary so it can't be used to knock the sport.

As an American union player and football fan, I love both. What I can say to the AF detractors is this: Imagine every play in AF as being a set play, where you can consistently run elaborate plays at your opponents weak points every time you touch the ball. Also, these guys are athletic freaks, built different than your average pro rugby player. Consider that the AF kicker, the smallest guy on the field, is about the same size as an international center and you can see where we're going with this...Jeff Reed (Steelers) 1.82m 102kgMa'a Nonu: 1.83 meters 100kg

So maybe NFL kickers are the size of Union centers... but that doesn't mean they're anywhere near as strong, agile, or skilled at ball handling and tackling. Rugby players are the most dynamic athletes as they're required to play 80 minutes, run, pass, kick, tackle. NFL players are far more specialized.

From a neutral p.o.v that is not an accurate comparison, how do we know this Jeff Reed isn't a big guy for a kicker. You need to blindly compare players (i.e. don't pick them) and you need a larger sample size (i.e. more players.) Otherwise the comparison is completely worthless.

Of course rugby players are going to be better suited for the long, dynamic game of rugby. Athletic ability aside, I'm talking stricly size here, and if you want to look at a player pool here's a quick scoop on some NFL kickers:Adam Vinatieri: 6' 202lbsSebastian Janikowski: 6'2" 250lbs (half of that is booze)Robbie Gould: 6' 172lbsDaniel Sepulveda 6'3" 230lbs (punter)Shayne Graham 6' 205lbsPhil Dawson: 5'11" 205lbsNow, enjoy the link below and see Daniel Sepulveda (a former linebacker come punter) lay a hit on an unsuspecting return manhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhCgLeuO0I

View Video

I think Ronan O'Gara was being tracked by the Miami Dolphins as a kicker/punter (whatever its called lol) a few years back. Nothing what-so-ever came of it though. I love union, its flawless lol.I like AF (and i would watch matches if there ever on TV over here in Ireland) but it stops too much. Its also just as much a show as a sport...i dnt really like that. But, i dont like RL. Its too much like watered-down rugby union. I dont mind playing it, but i dont think i could actually watch a full game

Love this vid. It's a bad idea to compare those two sports. Its a whole different world. Just because in both sports you're allowed to tackle, doesn't mean that they're comparable. Big Fan of AF and play Rugby since 5 years.

Great video. Its nice to see a conversation for once about rugby and american football where everything hasn't fallen in to the 'pads are for girls' and 'rugby sucks!' spiral. I can appreciate the merits of both sports and codes, but every time i try to watch a AF game its too stop start for me. it seems to be a game that has sold its soul - too much advertising and not enough action. its a shame because everything else about it wants to make me watch it.

Good vid but get some CFL in there next time.DMac

alright im a union fan for a long time and know nothing about american fotball apart from the basics.... so your telling me that the AF linebackers are genetic freaks when compared to our union midgets. ok if some one out there could compare the likes of chabal, sheridan, shaw, spies, kankovski (sa 8 however its spelt), burger, j.collins. im just curious because i dont think theres going to be that much difference. also u talk pace look at habana, ngwenya, chavanga, other powerful backs like vainikolo and tuilangi....it just annoys me that people come on here and just say that AF players are the cream of the crop. im not sure M.

"so your telling me that the AF linebackers are genetic freaks when compared to our union midgets"I don't think anybody is saying that. You might be getting a bit riled up for nothing. The consensus here so far is that these are two different sports with merit for liking each.

Oh, and I thought this video was awesome.It is Rugbydump, though, so hopefully the videos stay all rugby-oriented....but a clip like this every now and again is pretty refreshing - especially since it's all in good taste and not trying to put down one sport or the other.

Amazing Video, but like most of you are saying you cant compare the sports. however like "thefullback" said if the AF players are so much better and bigger, why is it after every world cup your hear rumours about AF clubs trying to nick rugby players. and as for the kickers being freaks, didnt gavin hastings go and do it for a bit, and that was before rugby turn professional

Yes, there are big guys in rugby, but the fast hard plays, accompanied by the breaks and timeouts of AF lend itself to produce bigger guys, on average. The average player size in the nfl last year was 6'1.5", 245 lbs; this includes the 6', 180 lb kickers and the 6'6", 375 lb linemen. The stoppages in gridiron mean that the players can be in worse cardiovascular shape and focus all of their training on lifting and getting bigger.In my opinion, ruggers are much better all-around athletes and I think union is much more fun to play. The games and rules are so different, however, that a direct comparison is like comparing apples to oranges.This coming from an American that just caught the rugby bug a few years ago, so you can take it with a grain of salt...

brilliant video

The true difference of rugby and football, from an outside perspective, is that football is largely run on, and composed of statistics. I mean individual stats, not like in rugby when it's more composed of team effort (although rugby does include some forms of recordings.) From an inside view, however, Amer. footbal is much faster--not in the snese that play doesn't stop, because it does every play--but because the players run so much faster and hit so much harder. In the pros, if you don't go all out on every play, then you better be amazing. And there's something like 30 NFL teams, each with a 55 man or less roster, while in rugby the list goes on and on.

love rugby union love rugby league and love nfl so all good in my opionion

Iv played rugby since I could walk so i might be a bit bias but we get a few AF players trying their hand a rugby every few years and they are mostly the same. huge and fat and useless ... they all give up. there have been a few exceptions and our 2ndXV have a few former AF players who are doing ok now, but it took some time. We have one guy however who played rugby for years but got a bit too fat and unfit,he then went to AF for a while but came back to rugby and got much fitter,now he is one of our best forwards. we had a bunch of AF players started at my gym a few weeks ago and omg the were in terrible condition. one boy was only 14, 6"3,120kg and 33% bodyfat!I'm sure its different for pros but none of these guys could play any level of rugby!

i love rugby but i gotta be honestwhen i get the chance i love to watch american football2 great sportsand a good point why compare cant we just appreciate both?.. a bit of variety in our sporting interests?having AF on here is not blasphemy.. soccer would be.. if i ever see a comparison vid with soccer i will not visit this site again :P

Great clip. As an American who was turned onto rugby during college, it has become increasingly difficult for me to watch football. Rugby is so much greater a test of one's athleticism, as well as a testament to great sportsmanship. American football has been soured by cocky/dirty players, the slower pace of the game in comparison to rugby, and the fact that a player be on the field for 15 seconds and then come off for a rest.

Its a good clip, but theres something about AFs that makes it an inferios sport... Maybe its the fact that they stop too much, o the pads..

I have played both at national 2 level in england and while teaching at an american summer camp with some uconn guys. There both tough and both tiring. sprinting full out with pads and the concentration it takes for the few seconds of play is comparable with judging, reading and keeping up with the flow of a rugby game. If we talk about size I am a 15 1/2st 6'3 centre who converted to try and play left outside linebacker after training for the af boys for 3 months I was touching 17st its what massive weights huge amounts of the right food does to you, and on the other hand the kids could easily be converted to rugby players with a few adjustments to training and technique, they loved the rugby! though they did point out that rugby wasn't going to get them on tv or a college scholarship so wouldnt change. They are both amazing sports with amazing athletes. I loved the video keep them coming!

An emphatic *unionist*but a great video nonetheless, i'm sure gridiron has alot of merits, it came from rugby after all.Already i'm eagerly anticipating the six nations.

American football is SHIT! And there's no way to compare it with rugby

Well thankyou annoynmous for that incredibly useful comment. You have managed to drag down the high standard of previously very good debate. Obviously a wanker.

ok it is amazing at how many negative comments that are out there about AF! the crazy part is that i can guarantee that most of you guys haven't even tried it out. some of you guys complain about how fat these guys are blah blah blah. you obviuosly don't watch AF or else you would've noticed that there are also very fit and very fast guy. anyways what i'm trying to say is, if you haven't tried it then how can you possibly know anything about it. Anyone can have have an opinion, only a few make educated ones.p.s. big fan of any contact sport.. love rugby

AF keeps trying to nick your union ruggers because we can actually pay our players!! NFL league minimum for one year is $375,000 a season, MINIMUM!! And any kicker worth a damn gets even more than that. I prefer rugby to AF because it is an all inclusive sport, meaning that even the fat boys in rugby get to run with ball in hand. I'd like to see Schlack "da ham" Burger tackle Shaun Rodgers with ball in hand.

As an american hooker...I've found that rugby is more fun to play...but I find gridiron better to watch. IMHO, there's just nothing more breathtaking than third and 4 with twenty seconds left in the 4th quarter. Oh, and the teams are much more balanced, so you don't end up with the NE Patriots winning 101-14 over the Detroit Lions, like...oh...say...NZ vs. Samoa this morning.And, let's be honest, gridiron is more a show than a sport, ESPECIALLY the collegiate gridiron. Tailgating, marching bands, cheerleaders, parades, halftime shows, fight songs, ect. ect. ect. And somebody said that "the nature of gridiron football make the pads nessecery." I disagree. As far as I can tell, the pads are what make gridiron's full body flying death tackles possible. If ruggers didn't have to worry about cracking their own heads open, they'd tackle like that, too. Well...league players already do, but we all know they're at least partially insane.

Oh, and there are some players who tend to be fat in american football, the offensive linesmen and the fullbacks, but it's not fair to ridicule them for not being able to hang with rugby players.It's not their job to be fast, or have good ball handling skills. An O linesman might touch the ball once every five years. They're supposed to be big, wide, and ENORMOUSLY strong.

Im am writing this comment as a lover of AF. I watched it growing up as a religion and then when i got to high school i found rugby. After playing and wattching rugby i have to honestly say that AF is just boring. Stoping after every play and going to commercial kills it. And when people refer to football players being great athletes, they are in a way. But on the football field your job is very specific, if your an offensive lineman you block, if your a reciever you catch. I rugby you are trained to do everything. You dont just tackle the guy then leave the field. You tackle the guy, thhen join in the ruck or maul and try to regain possesion. And when someone said that recievers in AF would do good in rugby i would like to debate that. For example say a reciever makes a catch then sprints the entire length of the field and scores a touchdown. after that touchdown he goes an sits down on the bench, puts an oxygen mask on, watches the kickoff, then waits for the other offense to play then another kickoff or punt then they get the ball back and maybe get a catch. I remember watching a Australia vs. New Zealand when first learning about the game and one of Australia's centers got the ball and sprinted the entire length of the field and scored. What did he do next? Played defense! Through out my high school career i cant tell you how many football players came out for the team and couldnt handle how physical it was or how high paced it was. Before i played they had this kid brian who was the star of the soccer and football team. He played 10 mins into the first half and was asking for a sub because it was to much, he eventually got into good shape and turned out to be a decent player. But i hate when people assume that AF recievers and linebackers would be great in rugby because they wont be. The two best football converts where an extremely in shape defensive end and the fullback who was a human freak.

i don't want to compare the two sports but as an American I'm saying AF is why we are bad at Rugby on the international stage all of our athletes play AF and don't care about rugby cause theres no future in it in America. Its really annoying how we isolate ourself even in sport. It SUCKS!

I agree with most of the sentiment on here that to compare the two sports isn't viable. Wha I'd like to chime in with, is kinda linked to another post I made on a USA rugby vid, there's a lot of AF players who don't make the grade at NFL, so why doesn't USA rugby as run by Nigel Melville start making a concerted effort to try and recruit these guys, give them an incentive to train, form a couple of conferences and raise the standard of USA rugby? I'm sure with the similarities in the two games, as opposed to the differences that the american public would be enticed more by the prospects of athletes smashing $hit out of each other for 80 minutes as opposed to a bunch of prima-donnas parading around a pitch for 90 collapsing under the weight of someone ankle tapping them! Its just a thought, but one that has probably got legs!

jeff,that was my point, that because of pads those types of "stonewall, head to head tackles" are part of the game. I look at it like this, if the rest of the world played AF, the same athletes that play rugby for their countries would likely play AF for them too. Training is different, but the athleticism and ability to tackle and run is the same thing (as a guy who payed both). They are both great sports with their own merits.

there are certainly big players in both sports. and the fact that gridiron is such a stop and start style of game alows those players to put on more muscle and get bigger more easily than a rugby player. however america has over 300,000,000 people to choose from wheras nz, oz, and sa combined have only like 75,000,000 ppl... so therefore id think america would have a better choice to pick those huge freak-of-nature type guys.. in my opinion after playing both sports for a handful of seasons, AF is fun to play and fun to watch. But it is only 'so' fun. when playing it you're only going to get half the playtime b/c the team is broken into offence and defence, and when watching it your going to get to watch the entire game, but also have to sit through all the stops and starts and ads and timeouts...wheras if you play rugby you dont have to run on and off the field every few minutes as the ball switches possession if your playing, and when watching the game you get to see about 40 more minutes of playtime in a smaller overall period of time that it takes to watch an NFL game. therefore... in my opinion.. rugby is the superior

I was born and raised in Ft. Wayne Indiana, and at my high school football is huge. All the good players get special treatment, and walk around the halls like a bunch of over zealous, muscle bound dickheads. The rugby team gets no respect at all, and nobody in the school, except for those on the team, understand how tough of a sport rugby is. The dean of our school is also the football coach, and he hates the team, and hates the people on it..... i would love to see him try Rugby..... HE'D GET CAUSE I'D DESTROY HIM

Who is the stepper on 1.28? Reminiscent of the Sevens player William Ryder, absolutely hypnotizing footwork.

Nice vid!! I like watching AF videos but watching a whole game is exruciating (too long and too many commercials)...about the two sports a lot has been said (pads, athleticism, amount of time actually played etc..) but I'm surprised that nobody pointed out one thing although a lot of people kinda skimmed it, in my opinion the biggest difference (and i mean this without intent to offend) is that in rugby u have to use your head!! quick thinking and decision making is a BIG part of the game, the coach sits in a box and doesn't call all the plays in the QB ear who then calls the play that everybody has down pat (ok maybe its a challenge to remeber what u have to do in a 1000 different plays), also this means that when somebody makes a decision on the rugby pitch your team mates react to what you do and understand you (watch the clip on RD of the lions tour in south africa, i think it's Keith wood or martin johnson that says "fifteen hearts and minds playing the same tune"). Also your team mates talk to you while you're carrying the ball and inform you where to pass and stuff...basically oth are team sports but i think rugby a bit more so (although also in AF u have to trust that your team mate will do what he's supposed to..like block for instance)...peace!!

so then RD. Iv read all the posts so far today...what a debate, very interesting. its good to see so many points of view.quick question is there any plans for a proper message board for us to write on, on the main home page?i know this is blasphemous but the 'your say' section on teamtalk.com is very addictive to read. and i would love to see one on his website. just an idea.....M

erm... knock on!"jaybee"

Awesome video. Loved some of the AF hits

Great video!! 2 great games. and some league too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyuYthReULkim tryin to make a lil series lol

Can't believe the lack of Jonah, Lima and Caucau content but otherwise an awesome video! But i suppose those 3 names would probably be in most rugby related vids so makes a fresh change :)

Comparing the length of rugby with the stop start of football is like running. A sprinter is built to run very fast for a very short amount of time. While a Marathon runner is built to run for a very long distends, but not as nearly as fast as the sprinter. Now which one the better athlete? The answer is neither there both awesome in there on right.

If I ever become the ruler of Earth which i plan on doing very soon i will organise the greatest sporting event ever seen!Like a Triathlon but but instead of different events, it will be different sports. Each country is allowed a squad of 30 and will play the following sports: Rugby, Soccer and Am. Football. the teams will consist of only professional players. lol if only... would be such an awesome contest! How many AF players would make it to the US squad? I think a LOT of Rugby players would make the grade. Only one thing is for sure, very few soccer players will make it in! :DAF+RUnion+RLeague are all awesome. Stop your quibbling and get out there if you want to play in my world sport tournament!P.S. Winning team gets free bacon.

Rugby and Gridiron are both good sports sure Rugby is funner to play, more physical and my prop friends dont get to have very much fun in gridiron only fullbacks and fly halfs and flankers get to have fun in football :P

Get this video off of her bru.

Being from america but an avid rugby player since I was young, It's weird to see the two sports put together in such a video. It can't be debated that both sports boast a huge amount of athletic strength and power but although I enjoy watching both codes of the game, for me the rugby in the video just seems better than the american football.

Anonymous M: the Your Say on teamtalk.com looks like a good one, and the one on Cricket365 is also really lively. I made the same suggestion to Planet Rugby but didn't get a reply. But I'm sure the problem for the Dump is that something like that would have to be monitored around the clock otherwise it'd just fill up with rubbish. My guess is that RD doesn't have the staff or time.

i'm an american. i grew up with gridiron but converted to union when i was 15 and have played for over 10 years. it's a good video and gridiron is good to watch if you like it, but if i wanted to see videos of it, i'd go to an nfl website, not rugbydump. i come to rugbydump to watch rugby, not gridiron. one video is fine, but i just fear that it might become a habit and then this great site will become imbued with helmets and pads...

American football requires pads for a number of reasons. First, blocking is legal and quite physical, being that it is an athletic sprint. Secondly, shoulder charges and hitting when a player is in the air is legal. Blindside hits, especially on the quarterback, are prevalent and especially dangerous. Often times players don't know they've been hit until they've hit the ground. Rugby requires wrapping and safely bringing players to ground. This was not meant to cause divisiveness... I love many codes of football, including AF, Union, Sevens, League, and Aussie Rules!

I grew up playing rugby in RSA and currently live in the USA and I can tell you that Gridiron does not compare to rubgy. It is unheard of plying both ways in gridiron where in rugby you turn from offence to defence in a split second. In rugby we do not stop after every play to plan a new one. It is nonestop action.

@ above anonymouseI don't know about "nonstop action." Non-stop play, yes, but some games can be very, very boring (RWC Final, anyone?)Gridiron is action pause action pause touchdown whereas Rugby Union is kick ruck kick ruck kick kick kick ruck OMG BRILLIANT RUN!!! kick kick ruck try.

As usual great mixing,but to my point of view so far "why i love rugby" i best vid so far.

"Gridiron is action pause action pause touchdown whereas Rugby Union is kick ruck kick ruck kick kick kick ruck OMG BRILLIANT RUN!!! kick kick ruck try."

"Gridiron is action pause action pause touchdown whereas Rugby Union is kick ruck kick ruck kick kick kick ruck OMG BRILLIANT RUN!!! kick kick ruck try."When you post something funny like this, you really should leave a name other than "anonymous".

hmm...can't really get into "gridiron"! Seems like a bit too much of yelling yeeeha for no good reason, and like its a continual contest to try and hurt your opponent, rather than play a game!Steven

lol, at 1'00 one defender is trying to trip the ball runner....

but yeah, the offload from in front of the try line was awesome, so is the player in orange shirt's jink and flick pass. that reminds me, you don't see much passing of the ball when running from Gridiron in this clip.

rugby is so much better!!!!! everything about it

i like both sports, the speed per play in AF is awesome but advertising has taken over and made it too slow, could you imagine a guinness advert at every knock on? the one major problem i have with AF is that due to it's lack of global play at a top level, the winners of the domestic league call themselves World Champions, whereas us Union boys have to beat actual other countries...

Why dont you get an AF dump site and leave this one for rugby?

Super mes deux grande passion runi, super video.Seul bemole la musique, je suis pas trop fan.

Sweet video.... nice one RD!!

Although I'm a fan of both football and rugby, I'd prefer to see just rugby on RugbyDump, it's not called RugbyAndAmericanFootballDump.

Great video:) love union but I also like AF and leuage but in AF there so much else that is going on except the match and there is so much pauses... ive tried to wtach the super bowl... got bored after 5 min and in union there is just about the game and there is almost no pauses.

in reply to the guy who said there is no future for rugby in americai disagreei think if theres was organised young teams set up, divisions and the chance to play a lot then i think americans can compete in the world of rugby, everyone has the stars around somewhere tis about giving them the opportunity to rise

af players are defo not as fit as rugga players but i heard that in fact a rugga player is only phisicaly working for 28 mins a half wich makes it 56 mins a game(dont now if its true) so im sure someone who gets paid as much as pro af players could last a game of rugby for 56 mins.

it would be a good game if they didnt wear pads. its just a bit.....soft.you just have to compare the two videos. rugby is harder, faster and meaner.the football guys are all spotless and it reeks of commercial marketing, tv media hype and general american lack of substance.bah.

it would be a good game if they didnt wear pads. its just a bit.....soft.you just have to compare the two videos. rugby is harder, faster and meaner.the football guys are all spotless and it reeks of commercial marketing, tv media hype and general american lack of substance.bah.

i enjoyed that, top stuff!

Have a look at this hit from AF. Most of the time they're just colliding with each other but here we see more of a...ahem...'rugbydump'.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bM4sEmaFLQ&feature=related

I like both sports, well actually the 3 of them, since Union and League are a bit different ;)In AF, the most annoying is not the pauses itself, it's the advertising ! I'm from France, and whenever I watch some AF (it doesn't happen very often since they're broadcasted live, and that means in the night here xD ) the ads get so long that I can't help but fall asleep. For the video, I would have liked to see more Union club videos, I don't really follow the foreign championships, apart from the HCup, but here we've got some niiiice runners that would have deserved to appear in that video I think, for ex. Nalaga, Ngwenya, Clerc (hope he'll come back soon !), Rougerie, Heymans, Delasau and so on...

LOL at the size argument. Anyone who thinks there is more than a minor difference in height and weight is fooling themselfs.I've actually looked into this. And your average NFL player is only about a stone heaver than your average rugby player. Which is laughable considering there's alot of fatties in NFL teams to bring the average up.As for the pads debate. Pads are gay. Period. The whole, they need the pads argument is ridiculous and flawed. Rugby doesn't need pads, why, because it's a hard sport and there's rules.The general American idea of a contact sport seems to be lack of rules, and a retarded amount of 'protection'.Astranaut Rugby is inferior to it's father in every way possible.Did any of you watch the last Superbowl? I forced myself through a good 3 hours of nothingness and commentators discussing irrelivent 'stats'. There was about 4 seconds of play to a 45 second 'break'.Just look at the general nature of players within the game. They're for the most part jumped up little tw!ts.That aside, i can appreciate a good video, and the video is brilliant.

2:31 - absolutely amazing pass

as a Rugby league player.i thought this video was well amazng tbh i have respect for all 3 sports i dont think people should compare sport sying one is beter than another people have there favorates tbh. :)

more more MORE

"American football is SHIT! And there's no way to compare it with rugby"I understand that my comment was hurtful for some of you, but I think that AF is only about punching the guy with ball (badly) and long runs. The whole game is too static in my opinion.Anyway sorry for the stupid comment and GREAT VID of course

Despite all our differences, I think everyone posting here would agree on one thing - SOCCER SUCKS.

rancid,like i stated earlier under anonymous, "anyone can have an opinion, only a few make educated ones."you "looking in" to this doesn't equate to "knowing" football. the average o-linemen is around 310 lbs(140kgs). that is much higher than most props. average d-linemen around 290. but i guarantee they would outpace you in a sprint contest.you stated "The general American idea of a contact sport SEEMS to be lack of rules, and a retarded amount of 'protection'." again you showed your lack of actual football experience. trust me when i say that pads are needed with the way hits are made in football.how you feel comfortable commenting on something you have no experience on is beyond me. that's your own business. but if you ever come to hawaii you could have a go at football. this is no threat, just a friendly invite to help give you some real world experience. rugby season starts in january for us. you could help elevate our game by sharing some tips. its not anywhere near it should be but its a start.

The thing about the pads/tackling argument is that it's a bit of a chicked/egg argument. Do american Footballers NEED pads because they hit harder or do they hit harder BECAUSE they have pads on? Either way I don't think you can call them pussies, the hits are pretty intense. It would be interesting to see them play without pads and see if they still threw themselves at each other quite so destructively.

You know just how great NFL is when the highlight of their biggest game of the season is usually some 70yo British Rockers like the Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney singing some songs at half time. Helps to break up the 8 hours of dull gameplay though.

Great Vid. Could have illustrated a bit more of Rugby's all round skills - like spectacular passes or catches. Also what is with the fact that there was not a single South African team or player in the vid? Very bias IMO!

pads are gay! i agree.....would these american football players be able to take a rough and tumble season in the english prem i doubt it alot! pads are for people who dont want to hurt their faces....

Poccio,If you've ever heard of a quarterback, they're the guys that have to make several decisions in a matter of 5 seconds, and often change the play with audibles when the offense reaches the line and gets set. AF playbooks are extensive and require both hard study and practice.And augmenting my pads comment, which has been attracting scrutiny...if you have ever seen the progression of padding, you can see that AF players wore basically nothing but leather helmets in the early days. Given that people were dying during the brief, strenuous physical exertion due to head and neck injuries (mainly the cause of the legality of shoulder charges and the like), football was almost made ILLEGAL.The point is that those rules were in place before padding with any technological background was developed. In union, shoulder charges and hitting your opponent in the air are ILLEGAL!!! You must wrap the ball-carrier and bring him safely to ground. I'm not claiming that union doesn't have its share of hard hits (I've taken a few myself).

IsleStyle, you're an idiot.As i said, the weight is not much difference. By looked into, i mean i've taken stats from domestic British teams, and compared them with NFL teams. And i tell you as fact, the weight difference is minor(union vs gridiron wise)And the speed argument? That's how i know you're a complete idiot. You know aswell as i do that NFL speeds for the most part are NOT timed electronically. Are you that naive to the point you buy into these speeds the NFL sell you? If that was the case they'd all be olympic sprinters.There is no difference in speed. So stop spreading propoganda.And pads are not bloody needed. That is BULLSHIT. There was a choice between bringing tackling rules into the game, or adding pads... And you added pads. That was a choice.That doesn't mean you need them. Take them off and i guarantee the hits would be nothing like what they are. They dive head first into tackles BECAUSE of the pads. Without them they'd use their common sense.NFL is waste. Speed wise, rugby equals it. Weight and height wise, rugby will be the same in 5 years, tackle wise, rugby beats it. Everything else, rugbys already streets ahead.Yank football is 5 seconds of play for a 45 second break. It's a horrendous excuse for a game. Played by homos in NASA suits and ballet tights.Gridiron is a joke. The whole world knows it.

No probs with NFL, love union, just not a fan of league.

when i played american football on the playstation i thought it was really good but watching the match that was played in england and some of the superbowl i have to say that from a spectators point of view it looks very bad. passes rarely come off big hits are very rare indeed and the games are very tedious. Im sure playing it is much better and im only drawing what i say from two games. but rugby is in my opinion great to watch and play and a far more fluent game

One thing i have noticed in watching the two sports (and this ofcourse isnt for all) but your average professional rugby player are much better tacklers then Defensive players in A.Football. For Example a bal carrier running into two defenders will almostr always be tackled par Shane Williams, Bryan Habanna and a few other fantastic agile players but in American Football the tacklers eem to slip off the ball carrier so much easier

Agree with Rancid Totally. Put anyone you want from Gridirion in a race against Habanna, Shane Williams, Chavanga, Sivivatu, etc and lets see your so called SPRINTERS beat them by miles??

i no theres alot of debate between these two sports but im a fan of bothfor those ruby fans out there, watch my bryan habana mixhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLXEHI81bCAfor the Gridion fans out there watch my NFL running back mixhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMdIo6Vudi0&feature=user

rancidresorting to name calling shows your character or lack thereof. the point i was trying to make is HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SOMETHING YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!?! i went to the combine. they did time us electronically and people do run as fast as they claim. again HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SOMETHING YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!?! as colin stated shoulder charges were allowed and people were getting killed. read up on the history of football. again, HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT SOMETHING YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!?! one last thing. google Dan Lyle. he never even made it to the NFL but captained a rugby team to winning a heineken cup.do yourself a favor and open your mind a little. or else you'll be as arrogant as the americans you despise so much :)

american football has alot of boring rules. and some tackling isnt aloud i got told of for grabbing a facemask, looked like a good handle to me and horse collar tackle.... no idea? also wtf is holding? while we are on this lacrosse??? gayest sport in the history of man!! but i digress i am aware AF was almost made illegal due to a slight difference in legal laws across the atlantic in the early half of the 20th century.in the uk if its on the pitch and within the boundries of the game then you cannot carry out litigation no matter the consequences. in the us this however was not the case, i read a interesting article in a law journal from the 60's about it sorry i cant reference it saying this slight variation before the law change caused huge economic problems to many teams, even being a contributory factor to many teams folding. if you want a gander have a look at your law school library makes interesting reading.oh if theres any young rugby playing students reading this with a chance to go for a year or semester at an american uni do it, hot girls, you can drink them under the table. but most importantly these football converts are bit gash, so you can jog in plenty and be big man on campus.

A couple points in defense of American football from someone who loves playing and watching both rugby and AF.1.) The pads and helmet are more weapons than they are protection. Getting tackled in AF usually hurts a hell of lot more than in rugby, and you just couldn't play AF without the padding.2.) The start stop nature of the game is a major component of AF, it just wouldn't be the same game without it. If that turns you off as a spectator, fine, but it isn't any reason to bash the game itself.3.) I believe that rugby players are vastly superior as all around athletes, but that the specialization of players in AF produces bigger, stronger, and faster players. The average lineman will push around the average prop, linebackers in general tackle harder than flankers, and the average NFL running back will outpace all but the best wingers.

whoever did the league clips was a bulldogs fan

man there is so much arrogance and ignorance on here. some people really like to show what jerks they are. a good game is a good game, its all football.

Also all rugby players get to carry the ball. In Gridiron some don't get near it. Tempo is a big issue for me. Do love the highlights though. Great vid, like to see the league and GridIron clips but would rather see more vintage/ GP+ML+S12+S14 club/ international/ sevens rugby hits and tries. But this is my very favourite site - awesome stuff.

colin,you talk about quarterbacks but they are only one player on the team and get they're instructions from the coach with a earpieces (also, excuse my ignorance what are audibles? are they spoken commands?) whereas in rugby everybody has to make decisions constantly (obviously some positions more then others), and i had said that learning a rule book is hard but it's like game show knowledge opposed to argumentation of a topic...anyway I think people should stop hating! one sport is more allround skills the other is like the specialized broken down version..what is really cool about football is that it's kind of a brutal chess match between the coaches the players are pieces to use and you expect them to perform a certain task in a consistent way....peace!!

really good video. i liked the spirit with which the video was made, not trying to knock one sport or the other just putting on a show of good athleticism and of course the big hits we all love no matter what the sport. i really enjoyed it because i have played both sports so i have a really good appreciation for both. but rugby is the better sport by far because american football is very physical but does not have the stamina requiremwents needed for rugby.

Brilliant!

I agree that you need to show some CFL clips (that is Canadian Football League for the uninformed), the original gridiron game which was copied and modified by the Yanks. I have played both and enjoy rugby more for many reasons but still enjoy watching American and espaecilly Canadian football as well. The Grey Cup is a Canadian tradition tha is usually a much better game than the Super Bore. There are great athlets in both sports and a lot of the skills cross over, but a lot are very different. I think a lot of the negative comments about American football are by people who know little about the game. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it shit or gay. The games developed differntly and you could not play football without pads, just as you couldn't play rugby with them.

Just put lomu on a us football pit he d run riot

buy the guy that made this vid a darn beer! good compliation! bring on vol 2!

great vid. i'm a 'unionist' all the way, but i dont mind the other codes. I'd love to say that ruggers could all own AF players upside down, but i dun really watch AF, so...

its a decent enough vid but i hate the way whenever these kind of videos are made to show what kind of sport rugby is and its major attractions etc, only southern hemisphere sides and players are highlighted. The only northern hemisphere player i spotted in that video (and i was surprised to see it) was chabal. I don't mean to cry about it but i don't think its a fair representation of rugby and its contrasting styles when only the south is shown

^ Anonymous - got a chip on your shoulder?? The vid is made by a guy from NZ, so he's fully entitled to feature only SH players if he wants. Make your own video and feature all the NH players you want.

Great, needs more South Africa and Redskins in the cilps....I'm a huge cross code fan born a redskins fan...became a south africa fan, i bleed green, yellow, red and gold...for those who don't know it Washington Redskins!!

some great comments posted here so I need not say what others have said already. I would like to point out however that attitudes in both games is very different. When you watch an AF game you see one sac on the quarterback and the lineman who sacked him is gloating and jumping around all over the place, in rugby you make a big hit, congratulations, the game doesnt stop you keep going for the benefit of the team its high intensity all the way, no time to faff about boasting about what you have done.

why is media zone doing that... they're taking every video away and making it no fun to come to this website anymore.

mediazone can suck a fat one

mediazone are so tight just for a few seconds of footage.

just to put this out there, if they didn't wear padding in Gridiron a lot of people would be seriously injured and die so I wouldn't call them pussies for wearing pads, plus the superb athletes in rugby have nothing on the superb athletes in Gridiron, Andrew Sheridan is a pussy compared to Larry Allen and devin hester is so much faster than bryan Habana

Rancid you are a stuck up moron. Just to shed some light on your ignorant mind probably 95 percent of the players that make it to the NFL are electronically timed at an evaluation event called the NFL Combine when the college players are trying to be drafted by NFL teams. So when you read, that is if you can, that a NFL player runs a certain time he really runs that time. Unfortunately the US will probably never see a truly great RU team in the world cup because our premier athletes choose NFL and the incredibly high salaries over a sport they didn't grow up with and even internationally doesn't pay enough to entice them.

i was at college yesterday and we were playing sevens touch rugby academy vs american football academy. we let the football academy switch between themselves whenever needed there was only 8 of us so are 2 props had half a game each. after 5 minutes the rugby players were on the floor panting even the people not playing at the tuime were. you have to be so much fitter to play rugby its unbelievable

GRIDIRON IS SO BORING! THEY CANT EVEN TACKLE PROPERLY EVEN WITH ALL THE PADDING... PUSSIES

Answer me this,

HOW MANY COUNTRIES IS NFL PLAYED IN?

I rest my case.

The International Federation of American Football is the governing body for American football with 45 member associations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

Skimmed through most of the comments.
Happy that there is only a few padding arguments.
But I've see the same AF defensive argument over and over 'Padding has to be worn because of the tackles' Those who see it this way, you do realise that padding wasn't brought in because of the big tackles its the padding which brought the big tackles.
It's the reason you don't see shit crazy tackles in rugby, the games adapted to make big tackles in safer ways as oppose to AFs head charges.

Just realised how old this video and debate is.....

However i will continue. ill admit I do watch the superbowl every year and enjoy the shows and sometimes end of game suspence on close games. But it will always be to stop and start for me. Sadly the Americanisation of sport is slowly destroying the idea of sport even its own games.

Rugby will always be my number one sport to play and watch (I have played both) unless 'Sepak Takraw' gets over taken my kung fu masters.