Rugby versus Football

Now I don't want to start any playground bickering of "My dad's bigger than your dad"- but let's face it, if my dad was a rugby player, and your dad was a footballer... I'd win. There will always be a counter argument for football, but here is why there shouldn't be.

The reason the arm wrestle is won and slammed down on the oval ball's side (in a matter of seconds) is because rugby is rebellious. It's simple. You want to be the guy in the leather jacket and combed-back hair driving off with the girl. So what if it means you're middle aged and you spend your mortgage on a motorbike? That feeling you get is exactly the same as taping up for a big rugby game.

Footballers are the kind of people who keep the screen protectors on their phones, who always have a bag for life in hand, and the only leather they own are driving gloves. OK maybe I've gone on about leather a bit too much- but the metaphor still stands.

Put it this way, wouldn't it have been more fun to run off football in hand with William Webb Ellis, then stand there with the other footballers rolling on the ground and screaming in the ref's face? The fact rugby is born through football even creates the idea of the rebellious kid. One who climbs out of their bedroom window to go partying, whilst their unknowing parents naively sit downstairs in cardigans.

In sport you'll always hear "Put your body on the line" shouted. But watching football it often feels like they have interpreted it as "Put your body in a line", as you see the pathetic dives to grab the ref's attention, like spoiled kids.

Rugby players have a different philosophy in sport, often playing with the mantra of "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today". Too extreme? 

All I'm saying is, next time you run at the fast approaching defence, and there's no way out, isn't it better to go out in style- in a big ball of flames, then whimpering like a little girl whilst in the foetal position?

 

Rugby isn't reckless and barbaric- but it feels like it is, wrestling those suppressed natural feelings that could escape at any minute. It explodes passion on the field and is united all the way through to its name. I'm not saying Football isn't- but it can often go missing on our screens as we watch the theatrics instead.

So whilst one sport can never be crowned better than the other, you can do one thing. Next time you're forced to watch Football in your local, just think... "What would William Webb Ellis do?" and run out of there with the TV in your arms.

Now back to James Dean's autobiography- I can't wait to see how it ends!