Does Rugby Have A Chance To Succeed In America?

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by litwin, Feb 6, 2012.

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Does Rugby Have A Chance To Succeed In America?

Poll closed Feb 8, 2012.
  1. YES

    16.7%
  2. God NO

    83.3%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. litwin

    litwin Well-Known Member

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    Does Rugby Have A Chance To Succeed In America?

    http://live.drjays.com/index.php/2010/12/01/does-rugby-have-a-chance-to-succeed-in-america/[​IMG]
     
  2. litwin

    litwin Well-Known Member

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    its not about Rugby , its Aussie rules...Americans ....
     
  3. Piscivorous

    Piscivorous New Member

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    LOL. Not a chance. We've had the NFL feminize football so bad, that players can't tackle too low, too high or (*)(*)(*)(*) near anywhere in between.

    And you think they would allow rugby?

    Talk to a school kid. Ask him/her what games they can play during recess. The following are not allowed nearly every where, including private schools:

    Tag
    Football
    Dodge Ball
    Kick Ball
    Baseball

    There are countless other derivatives.

    Our kids are turning into marshmallows.

    Rugby. Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe! Rugby he says.
     
  4. HB Surfer

    HB Surfer Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It's a great sport... but "no".

    With American football, baseball, and basketball and all the best athletes going there it cannot succeed.

    Soccer has the same issue.

    Can you imagine the following U.S. Soccer team with players that started from a young age in the sport:

    Forwards: Lebron James (F - Heat), Rob Gronkowski (TE - Patriots),
    Wingers: Kobe Bryant (SG - Lakers), Andre Johnson (WR - Texans)
    Center Field: Chris Paul (PG - Clippers), Adrian Peterson (RB - Vikings), Arian Foster (RB - Texans)
    Defense: Clay Mathews, (LB - Packers), Patrick Willis (LB - 49ers), Justin Tuck (DE - Giants)
    Goalie: Dwight Howard (C - Magic)

    You could do the same thing for Rugby. The domination would be nuts, but since the U.S.A. has all its best athelets going for higher paying and more U.S. popular sports it would be near impossible to make a breakthrough. Only individual sports like MMA is where you can see a huge growth and that is also because boxing has become so corrupt. I see baseball as having some serious weaknesses due to the slow pace of the game and the aging fan base, but it still is strong.
     
  5. cenydd

    cenydd Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The source, even with its 'Idiot's Guide to Rugby', fails to notice that there are 2 completely different codes of rugby - 2 sports called 'rugby', 'Rugby Union' and 'Rugby League'. League, which is what Crowe is into, is much closer to American Football, so while it might be easier for Americans to understand I can't see it catching on. What would be the point? I might be wrong, but to me it seems like it isn't different enough to seem like a worthwhile thing to get into. Union is a very different game, though, so might be of more interest as a separate sport.

    I don't know about League, but union is already played in the US, of course. Whether it will ever catcvh on big-time I doubt, though.

    Here's some union highlights from last year's Rugby (Union) World Cup, anyway:
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d2XCQcbzrk"]Rugby World Cup 2011 Best Tries[/ame]
     
  6. litwin

    litwin Well-Known Member

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    Rugby is so much better then AF ...and guy form Argentina (in the light blue helmet) is a real human -tank!!
     
  7. Colonel K

    Colonel K Well-Known Member

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    The biggest handicap would be forty minutes play per half, with only a ten minute break. American advertisers would never stand for it, even if attention spans could cope.
     
  8. Beevee

    Beevee Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You are quite right.

    They may however consider forty minutes of adverts on each side of 10 minutes play. Oh! Wait a minute! Don't they already do that?
     
  9. paco

    paco New Member

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    I have to agree. Your foreign sports are boring as (*)(*)(*)(*). Rugby is for hooligan homos anyway; light in the pants girly boys, anyway. The Super Bowl was exciting. I can't see any excitement coming from a rugby game aside from watching a crowd of drunken dagos beating the crap out of each other. You can keep it in your own country, savages.
     
  10. snakestretcher

    snakestretcher Banned

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    Yeah, a tough game played by tough men wouldn't work in America. You prefer obese lard-arses who can't run, need to take a break every 10 minutes to catch their breath, have to wear girly armour and crash helmets, and can't get a game over in less than three hours without an hour's break for a crap rock-band. And you stop games for ad breaks! WTF is with that crap?
     
  11. Dr. Righteous

    Dr. Righteous Well-Known Member

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    ?!?!?!?!!?!?!?! We played all of those games during recess when I was in elementary school.
     
  12. leftlegmoderate

    leftlegmoderate New Member

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    I wouldn't mind if Hurling caught on here in the States. It's an amazing sport imo.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzivRetelE"]Hurling - The Fastest Game on Grass - YouTube[/ame]
     
  13. paco

    paco New Member

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    Most rugby players that I've met in pubs over the years are wussies. They back down faster than a gay guy in a straight bar. Just look them in the eye and let them know that you're gonna kick their ass if they (*)(*)(*)(*) with you, and watch them fish & chips eating, Guinness drinking homos back down like vampires from the sun.
     
  14. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Tell it to Ray Lewis, Internet Tough Guy, and kudos on your latest xenophobic outburst...:tp:
     
  15. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    They play rugby in the NCAA - I don't see why not.

    Hats off to Crowe for promoting the sport...
     
  16. Talon

    Talon Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    That hasn't stopped American networks (supported by their advertisers) from broadcasting soccer/football matches on television...
     
  17. snakestretcher

    snakestretcher Banned

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    How many rugby players have you ever met in Snowville, Alaska?:mrgreen:
     
  18. paco

    paco New Member

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    I've been all over, pommy. Been in many fights with "hooligans", and they all puss out at the nearest sight of a sober fight. :mrgreen:
     
  19. litwin

    litwin Well-Known Member

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    you mast be joking?
     
  20. Daybreaker

    Daybreaker Well-Known Member

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    Isn't MMA basically rugby without the ball?
     
  21. Montoya

    Montoya Banned

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    I don't understand the rules of rugby so I can't comment. It looks like a less polished version of American football with no passing, just handoffs and pitches and no pads. Other than that I know nothing of the sport. Which is why I guess I wasn't routing for the team in the movie Invictus.
     
  22. Yosh Shmenge

    Yosh Shmenge New Member

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    Considering the problems football is going through with concussions I've been wondering when this topic might surface. You know footballl was banned once before in our history (by Teddy Roosevelt, no sissy boy himself) and, opinions by smug clueless American phobic rubes notwithstanding, we did quite well winning a gold medal in Paris in the 1920 Olympics.
    We do quite well considering we are playing everyone else's national game with just a miniscule fraction of the player base and training invested that all the other nations take for granted. It's easy to brag when the other guys are playing with one hand already tied behind their back (not that that's the fault of France, New Zealand or S. Africa, for instance).

    Concussions in rugby are relatively rare and (living literally just less than a mile down the street from Oakland Raider training camp every summer) you can see up close the specimens that crash into each other (half Schwarzenneger and half Olympic sprinter) and wonder why everyone in the NFL hasn't had their brain damaged by now. I've always maintained the rugby players are better athletes due to the nature of their game and if football is again banned (we are a long way from that) we would again be in position to dominate the sport due to our pool of talent that's gets fed into all other sports right now.

    Having said all that, in an ideal world, we would all be playing Aussie Rules football as it is wide open, free moving and high scoring. It's like a combination of football and basketball
    though you don't need to be a muscle bound freak to play (indeed, you can't be). It is the sport God intended for us all to play.
     
  23. cenydd

    cenydd Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There's two different versions of rugby, but no forward passing is allowed in either at all (you can kick it forward, but not throw it forward - all passes must be backwards), and no off the ball 'blocking' (so you can only tackle the person who has the ball). There's also none of the mass-substitution nonsense, and obviously no big pads or helmets.

    Rugby League is similar to American Football in having a set number of times when a player is tackled, the game stops and restarts, and then the ball is handed over (or more often kicked away downfield, of course), but doesn't have the thing about having to get a certain distance and being able to retain the ball if you do. In Rugby Union there is no such 'stop-start' thing, and rules governing what happens at the tackle area (about forming a 'ruck' or a 'mall') so that the ball stays in play, and the game has much more of a 'constantly flowing' feel to it.

    Here's a video about the basics of Rugby Union for Americans:
    [video=youtube;aiOpAvEdHQo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiOpAvEdHQo[/video]
     

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