Reasons why Rugby is better than Soccer

tolosenc

So, now that SA has finished hostin its SECOND World Cup, and we can all go back to not caring (barring, maybe, the occasional Ireland match against a bigger side) about the wendyball.

I'm sure this has been done to death, but I just need to get my knockers out of a twist after Andres effing Iniesta did me out of a potential 150€!

I'll get the ball rolling with an abvious one...

1. Respect - absent seemingly from all areas of the round ball game, rugby players have respect for the referees ("With all due respect ref, go to ****ing Specsavers!" was one of my gems a few years ago), themselves(not feigning injury only to be right as rain once punishment has been dished out), other players(Luis Suarez's great goalkeeping against Ghana, anyone?) and the game(not diving around all over the place, making a mockery of a spectacle).

Off you go...

L'prof

tolosenc wrote: »

Reasons why Rugby is better than Soccer

It's not

Superbus

They're different sports, and really one has to take each game on it's merits...

Personally, I prefer rugby, but I can also enjoy soccer even with any inherent issues it may have. Debates like this, even in good spirits, can breed resentment between fans of each sport. So yeah, that's my opinion anyway.

Lando Griffin

Have you ever seen a 20 stone man try to play soccer?

Barr

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Have you ever seen a 20 stone man try to play soccer?

Oh the beauty of rugby

B0X

Obviously they're two very different sports but the one thing i much prefer about rugby is the two different scoring methods, trys and drop goals/penalties. The constantly ticking scoreboard ensures (usually) that the most deserving team wins. The fact that that Spain were only a fantastic goal keeper away from loosing what would have been the most sour of defeats maybe shows this (I'm glad they won, but it could have gone the other way).

The other thing I think is miles above football is the lack of technology, though this will hopefully be finally put to rest when someone shows Blatter his P45 or the equivelent.

mathepac

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Have you ever seen a 20 stone man try to play soccer?

Usually with the lad with a number 9 on his shirt.

chupacabra

Superbus wrote: »

They're different sports dayer, and really one has to take each game on it's merits..... Bill.

Fixed for you.

Wolfe Tone

chupacabra wrote: »

Fixed for you.

Okey doke, What do you say to that Eamon? eh? Live.

Judgement Day

Rugby Union is an exciting game to play and watch, plenty of scoring, respect for the referee,a team game not full of selfish ball hoggers, far more complex structure not just aimless kicking of ball between players then back to the goalie to waste time, TV match official for those close decisons, usually a good atmosphere between rival fans.....
Soccer is a girl's game...there I've said it! Generally it is so boring to watch 0-0 and that's a result? Too many overpaid prima donnas, too much disrespect for referees, too much disrespect by players towards fans, too much bad behaviour by fans, too much diving by players, too much money involved at all levels in the game......

Sorry for the rant but I'm probably conditioned by the fact that we weren't allowed to player soccer at school, after the age of eight, and then we moved on to the 'grown-up' game. All that said, I would still watch a game if Ireland were playing but then I would watch two flies running up a wall if one had an Ireland jersey on!:D

racso1975

If ya really wanted to defend this you should have posted in the soccer forum

Barlett

I never understand these arguments why rugby is better than soccer etc. Can you not just enjoy each sport in general, I never see (I may be wrong) people writing about why soccer is better than other sports but I always see people explaining why their chosen sport is better than soccer, like they have to justify to themselves that soccer isn't going to kill off their sport.

Their two completely different games, there's no such thing as one sport being better than another.

Riskymove

tolosenc wrote: »

other players(Luis Suarez's great goalkeeping against Ghana, anyone?)

ah come on now, whatever about the other ideas cynical play goes on in rugby as in most sports.

Neil Back anyone?

penalty tries...etc

nicebutdim

Lando Griffin wrote: »

Have you ever seen a 20 stone man try to play soccer?

Andy Reid ;-)

who the fug

Before we get on our high horse about rugby we should bear in mind some problems that are facing the union game

Tennis, those who go regularly have endured endless kicking as neither team wants to give away position, at one London Irish home game last season the crowd really got on their backs.

Diving, rugby union now has a fair contingent of players who will go down to get a penalty, if you follow Bob Casey in the times he has referred to this on a couple occasion

Bulling of the referees, the club captains go on the pitch and from the first minute will be in the ref face, they are instructed by the club to do this.

League influence, we no longer play union but a bastardised version of union, where the scrum is being diminished, proper rucking in now illegal but nobody knows how or when this happened.

It is still a great game but the continual tampering with the rules, cynical defensive play and need for money could ruin it



We should just concentrate on our home game and leave other sports alone

JustinDee

I'll point out that it is in fact only now that the ruck laws are being applied.

No sport is perfect and that most certainly includes rugby union.

who the fug

JustinDee wrote: »

I'll point out that it is in fact only now that the ruck laws are being applied.

No sport is perfect and that most certainly includes rugby union.

For my benefit, could you please give a link to them, and advise why they are now being applied

Tim Robbins

who the fug wrote: »

For my benefit, could you please give a link to them, and advise why they are now being applied

Rugby is a very technical sport with a range of complex rules that causes its own complexities and problems.

You used to get away with rucking players much more than you do now. Refs used to allow players being rucked out of the way. But then it got a bit too dangerous so you don't get away with it as much and refs ping for not rolling away much more.

Usually in Rugby there's an area of the game that coaches and players are trying to push to get some sort of tactical advanatage out of and then the IRB follow suit. The last few years have seen ping pong, which has meant the IRB have decreed the offside (amongst other things) has to reffed stricter. Previously players were getting away with it because it was not having much of a material outcome which was true on an individual basis but overall it was making the game duller, so the refs were told to be stricter about it.

Does that answer your question?

who the fug

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Rugby is a very technical sport with a range of complex rules that causes its own complexities and problems.

You used to get away with rucking players much more than you do now. Refs used to allow players being rucked out of the way. But then it got a bit too dangerous so you don't get away with it as much and refs ping for not rolling away much more.

Usually in Rugby there's an area of the game that coaches and players are trying to push to get some sort of tactical advanatage out of and then the IRB follow suit. The last few years have seen ping pong, which has meant the IRB have decreed the offside (amongst other things) has to reffed stricter. Previously players were getting away with it because it was not having much of a material outcome which was true on an individual basis but overall it was making the game duller, so the refs were told to be stricter about it.

Does that answer your question?

Cheers, getting pinged for not rolling away is not being enforced in the English league, so there was no fast ball and some really really bad games last season.

Ciaran-Irl

Actually, what really convinced me that rugby is the finest field game we play is the GAA at the weekend.

I couldn't believe the treatment of the referee in the Leinster Football final yesterday. Half the bar I was in, as well as the commentators, were saying the primary disgrace in the match was that Louth were denied the win. The fans acting like lunatics was a side issue to the bulk of the people watching.

I actually couldn't believe it.

Without even getting to the point that fans were giving digs at the ref and a Gárda had to protect him, a bunch of fans got onto the pitch by punching over a steward. There were shots of a steward with a bleeding forehead collapsed on the ground.

The fact that the commentators were calling for a replay was disgraceful. Louth were hard done by, they said. If they weren't such thugs, then they would realise that the appropriate way to respond would be to ban Louth from the championship for a year. Idiot fans like those only respond to actions against the team.

Riskymove

Ciaran-Irl wrote: »

There were shots of a steward with a bleeding forehead collapsed on the ground.

hit by a bottle thrown at the ref apparantly

irishh_bob

whoever said rugby was exciting and soccer was boring hasnt got a clue , nothing in rugby comes close ( in terms of beauty , flair and style ) to watching the great brazilian side of 1970 , george best when he played at man utd or even the present barcalona side

soccer is a simple game which everyone can partake in no matter how basic a level , kids in shanty towns with jumpers for goal posts etc , rugby is a game of such rigid orthodoxy , its no wonder its mainly doctors , solicitors or other brain surgeons who plays it as the rules are mind bogedley complicated and endless , its a deeply conservative game where obeying the rules and following orders is revered above all things , from not going off side during a lineout , to not going offside in the maul , to not stealing the ball in the scrum before whatever needs to happen 1st to the almost monarchy like respect for officaldom , soccer is a much more rebelous , liberal and free game

Tim Robbins

irishh_bob wrote: »

rugby is a game of such rigid orthodoxy , its no wonder its mainly doctors , solicitors or other brain surgeons who plays it as the rules are mind bogedley complicated and endless , its a deeply conservative game where obeying the rules and following orders is revered above all things , from not going off side during a lineout , to not going offside in the maul , to not stealing the ball in the scrum before whatever needs to happen 1st to the almost monarchy like respect for officaldom , soccer is a much more rebelous , liberal and free game

All that diving in Soccer, rebelous and liberating so?
And as for free? The players are over paid and under worked and moaners. They remind me of the civil service.

What are you come out with next? Don't blame Soccer for causing the recession or something?

irishh_bob

Tim Robbins wrote: »

All that diving in Soccer, rebelous and liberating so?
And as for free? The players are over paid and under worked and moaners. They remind me of the civil service.

What are you come out with next? Don't blame Soccer for causing the recession or something?

stuffed shirt civil service types would be much more likely to play rugby

i dont dislike rugby btw , just think its very overrated and not a patch on soccer in anway shape or form

Risteard

who the fug wrote: »

Before we get on our high horse about rugby we should bear in mind some problems that are facing the union game

Tennis, those who go regularly have endured endless kicking as neither team wants to give away position, at one London Irish home game last season the crowd really got on their backs.

Diving, rugby union now has a fair contingent of players who will go down to get a penalty, if you follow Bob Casey in the times he has referred to this on a couple occasion

Bulling of the referees, the club captains go on the pitch and from the first minute will be in the ref face, they are instructed by the club to do this.

League influence, we no longer play union but a bastardised version of union, where the scrum is being diminished, proper rucking in now illegal but nobody knows how or when this happened.

It is still a great game but the continual tampering with the rules, cynical defensive play and need for money could ruin it



We should just concentrate on our home game and leave other sports alone

Tbh, it's getting better since these new 'interpretations' have taken effect. Offside lines from kicks are now rigidly enforced which allows more space to counterattack. Look at Mils Muliaina when he started off the move that resulted in Conrad Smith's try on Saturday.

Plus I don't see how the scrum has been diminished we saw this year that France dicked Ireland in the scrums and that had a big part to play in our loss, among other things. Likewise in the HC semi-finals both Munster and Leinster were crucified by French opposition, and Toulouse did the same in the final. If anything it's coming to more prominence again.

I take your point about rucking though. There are obviously safety concerns but it's really frustrating to see some rucks where teams can't counter-ruck because there's guys lying all over the place. But what we have to remember is that rugby's not just about the professional game, it's also more about the amateur game and at lower levels you could really see a difference where a massive guy could do a lot of damage to a smaller guy in a ruck with his feet.

On the captaincy issue, it's always been the way that the captain has spoken to the referee to try and ask questions/sort things out. The good refs take their points on board and look out for things but still maintain composure. It's when other players start gesticulating to the ref that annoys me.

Players going down easy pisses me off though. It makes me so angry and I agree that it's starting to creep in little by little and it should be punished severely to stamp it out.

Walsh

tolosenc wrote: »

1. Respect - absent seemingly from all areas of the round ball game, rugby players have respect for the referees ("With all due respect ref, go to ****ing Specsavers!" was one of my gems a few years ago), themselves(not feigning injury only to be right as rain once punishment has been dished out), other players(Luis Suarez's great goalkeeping against Ghana, anyone?) and the game(not diving around all over the place, making a mockery of a spectacle).

Off you go...

1. I remember a Rugby thing on the news about some fella using joke shop blood to fake an injury?

2. Most of Rugby is diving all over the place

P.S I think I watched one Rugby game in my life so don't be too harsh on me!

Risteard

Walsh wrote: »

1. I remember a Rugby thing on the news about some fella using joke shop blood to fake an injury?

2. Most of Rugby is diving all over the place

P.S I think I watched one Rugby game in my life so don't be too harsh on me!

He and his club and coach were punished though.

Tim Robbins

irishh_bob wrote: »

stuffed shirt civil service types would be much more likely to play rugby

stuffed shirt types are not likely to want to do any rucking drills.

i dont dislike rugby btw , just think its very overrated and not a patch on soccer in anway shape or form

yeah but with respect these are fluffy arguments. What do you mean by overated? overated by who? Your mates? RTE? Sky? Who?

Soccer and Rugby are very different games. Both have their merits and both have their problems.

I think you can get good enjoyment from both and you can get head recked from both. In my own case, if I'd like to have some more involvement with other sports including Soccer but you only really have that time when you are young. When you are older you make a choice for whatever reason, in my own case, I just prefer the technical nature, the mental aggression and split second skills in judging angles that you get in rugby.

As for Soccer, I love the passing game where players make triangles and keep it moving. And I love when a player isn't afraid to try and beat a player one and one even though that rarely happens now. But, I can find a lot of it humdrum because there's just not enough going on. It favours defense too much. I think the same can be said of Rugby league.

wixfjord

Risteard wrote: »

He and his club and coach were punished though.

What was this about, never heard anything about that




:pac:

sock puppet

irishh_bob wrote: »

stuffed shirt civil service types would be much more likely to play rugby

i dont dislike rugby btw , just think its very overrated and not a patch on soccer in anway shape or form

How can a sport be overrated Your statement makes absolutely no sense. A sport is either played by a lot of people, making it popular, or played by fewer people, making it a minority sport. There's barely a sport in the world where high profile media attention isn't backed up by a strong player base.