which is more physical, rugby league, rugby union, american football or aussie rule?
488231
They all hit hard-very hard. The rugby players and aussie rules players (and you can throw in Gaelic Football too) are moving just as fast as American Football players when they hit. \nSInce they wear no protection (except maybe a cup), I would say the Aussie rules guys and Ruggers are the more physical when compared to American Football.\nAmerican Football came about in part due to the extreme physicality of rugby. It got so bad in the 1800's in America, that Rugby was nearly banned. They came up with American football to calm the critics. With pads and television timeouts, it is the perfect television sport. Even when the action is lame!!!\nAmerica sucks in the international rugby scene now (Samoa and Tonga regularly whup our ass) but it wasn't always so: RUgby used to be an Olympic sport. And at the last summer olympics it was contested (1924), America took home the gold. Ah, those were the days...
748966
In England football (soccer) was the original ball sport played in many universities and colleges. The legend is that William Webb Ellis, while playing football at Rugby School, picked up the ball and ran with it this became a splinter-game called Rugby Football. When the English football league was established a number of these rubgy football clubs decided not to join in as the league did not recognise the use of hands as a legal method of play. Rugby became a popular alternative to football (soccer) but nearly all rugby clubs were called Rugby Football clubs. The game became immensly popular in America, but without a governing body to ensure uniform rules of play the nature of the American game began to significantly diverge from the Rugby played in England. Since the term 'Rugby' refers to the place where the rules originated it is understandable that the American sport adopted the word football to describe their similar but different game. In short American football was an offshoot of English Rugby football, which is itself an offshoot of the original game of football that the Americans call soccer. The word soccer is purportedly derived from "association football" and actually originates in England, but NOBODY in England calls football soccer at all, unless we have to dumb our programs down for American audiences. \n\nI also completely agree with you that football should only refer to the english game because (1) it is the original sport, (2) the American game has little connection whatsoever with the use of the foot, and (3) outside the US everyone calls this football, that's the entire world. I thought you guys believe in democracy? Billions watch not just world cup matches, but Champions League (the world's greatest sporting competition) and domestic competitions. Oh yeah, and American football sucks!
879275
From the Official Australian Football League (AFL) [Aussie Rules] site,\n\n"In 1857, Tom Wills, one of the founders of Australian Football, returned to Australia after schooling in England where he was football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer. Initially, he advocated the winter game of football as a way of keeping cricketers fit during off-season...." [1]
97144
The folk law says that in the English town of Rugby, during a soccer match, one young player picked up the ball and started running and all the others tried to catch him.\n\nThe game of Rugby Union was born.\n\nThe basic idea is that the ball must be passed backwards to a team mate [that is someone standing behind you in relation to the goal line] who then runs forward and passes the ball back etc etc.\n\nIn Rugby Union, once you have been tackled to the ground without having been able to pass the ball, you must release the ball backwards by placing in stationary on the ground.\nThe other team may not [in general circumstances] snatch it away, and one of your own team will pick the ball up and it starts again.\n\nIn Rugby League, [a breakaway code that strted in Australia over a dispute about player payment and professional/amature status] the rules are slightly different. \n\nTo the casual observer, the main difference will be that once tackled, both teams reset in defensive and attacking lines respectively, and the player who has the ball "plays the ball" by placing it on the ground and quickly rolling it back between his legs to a player known as the "dummy half" who may pick it up and run or pass etc.\n\nThe term "dummy half" is not used because he is a "dummy" but rather because his position in waiting for the ball is like a "dummy" or "fake" HALFBACK, which is a player who has the function of waiting for the ball to come out of a "scrum". \n\nRugby uninion and Rugby league can best be described in relation to one another in the same way that Softball and Baseball have many similarities.
1103121
American Football (as this category relates to) is the style the play in the NFL, colleges, high schools, etc.  The Football that this question relates to is known as Soccer in the states.  As such, this question was placed in the wrong section.
1069527
Football... Its more active and its a long game and american football is has shorter games i'm from england, I build muscule by playing football european ppl r fit cause they play football. American ppl play american football but they r still fat!
1090766
I would say hockey is. In hockey you play at a much faster pace, so getting hit hurts a lot more than in football. Fast paced hockey games are even harder because you are going up and down the ice so much. In football you stop play every 5-10 seconds and also get to sit while either the offense or defense is on the field(depending on what you play). Both sports are physically demanding and require a lot of strength though. I am assuming you mean football, not soccer in america.
168264
Derived from the English game of rugby, American football was started in 1879 with rules instituted by Walter Camp, player and coach at Yale University.
1059575
American football.\n\nYou guys play soccer.
407225
In UK there were two forms of football, Rugby football and Association football.  Association Football became soccer for short when it got confused with Rugby.  Now Football is so popular in the uk everyone assumes you mean soccer, but in the US if you say football, everyone assumes Gridiron unless you say otherwise.
761450
American football wasn't developed in the UK, Rugby was developed in the UK. Rugby was introduced to the US, then the rules changed to differentiate American football from Rugby. All the changes, rules, and regulations were made in the US so that American football is a completely different sport than rugby. Therefore, American Football was loosely based on Rugby, but developed into it's own sport. \n\nAnd Einstein was German, not American.
793602
Both American football and soccer have their origins in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, and American football is directly descended from rugby football.\n\nMcGill University athletes, who had learned rugby from the local British Army garrison, introduced the sport to the U.S. with a game against Harvard University in 1874. The game quickly spread to other Ivy League colleges.\n\nEncouraged by Yale University's Walter Camp, the schools began to adopt rules that would differentiate American football from rugby in the 1880s. The scrimmage was introduced in 1880 and the system of downs in 1882.\n\nBy the turn of the 20th century, football had become notoriously dangerous; 18 college players died in 1905 alone. Colleges responded with a series of rule changes to open up the game, most importantly the forward pass, along with outlawing dangerous formations such as the "flying wedge", and introducing and requiring better equipment such as helmets.\n\nThe game had achieved its modern form by 1912, when the field was changed to its current size, the value of a touchdown increased to 6 points, and a fourth down added to each possession. Originally dominated by the Ivy League, football soon captured the interest of colleges nationwide. By 1916, when the Rose Bowl game matching eastern and western teams became an annual event, football had developed a national following second only to baseball among team sports.\n\nProfessional football developed in the mill towns of Pennsylvania and the American Midwest in the early years of the 20th century. The NFL was founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio. Professional football remained a largely regional sport of secondary importance until after World War II. Television broadcasts greatly enhanced NFL football's national appeal, and the pro game surpassed both college football and baseball in popularity in the 1960s. The first Super Bowl—between the champions of the NFL and the rival American Football League—was played in 1967, and the two leagues merged in 1970.
192662
Rugby is NOT the most popular sport in Australia and South Africa.  Cricket is the most popular sport in Oz, and Soccer is the most popular sport in SA.  The only countries where you could call it the most popular sport are New Zealand and several of the Pacific islands.\n\nRugby is popular because it is perhaps the most pure contact sport and the predecessor to many popular variations, such as American Football and Aussie Rules.  A lot of people inclined to play and watch contact sports find Rugby more appealing than other contact sports.  It is usually considered tougher, faster and more exciting than the alternatives.\n\nThe fact that it is an English sport also helps its popularity, as the English spread it to all their colonies.  It is arguably the second most popular sport in the world, behind Soccer obviously.  You would be surprised where it is popular.  South America has a long history of Rugby for instance, an Argentina has fielded a competitive team for decades.  It is also popular in Eastern Europe, the fastest growing sport in the USA and gaining traction in Asia.
450600
Australian Rules Football.\nNo it isn't Rugby.\nNo it isn't Soccer.\nNo it isn't Gridiron.\nImagine all threee being played at once by crack addicts? Thats it!!!!
328697
England!\n\nIf you pick the ball up its rugby.\n\nWhen girls wear shoulders pads its called American football.
368258
Rugby Union & Rugby League (as far as I know)
331975
Absolutely agree that it should be "Football",\n'cause that's the original name, and that's what the rest of\nthe world use, and it's really played with foot/feet.\n\nThe American Football should be called something like\n"tackle-ball" or "American Rugby" instead, 'cause they really\ndo not play it with feet much -- the main action is not\nkicking but passing & tackling (not using feet, but using arms\nand body, ...and body armours)...