Rugby vs American Football

[OverprotectiveMumPFB]

Where I live, both of these are uncommon, foreign sports. DC1 came home smiling, actually smiling 😮after a PE lesson the other day. He said they had a lesson with the rugby club who are trying to get people to join. He enjoyed it! He has ASD and dyspraxia and generally hates anything to do with sport.

Turns out it wasn't rugby, but an American football club. Being English, I've watched a few matches, personally never played although it was a big thing at school for the boys. We never considered looking into it for him because of the injury risk and assumed he would hate the contact part. DH has no cultural understanding of it either.

Still a bit reluctant to look into it... any words of wisdom? If you had a choice (I know a lot won't have a choice because of school) would you prefer one over the other? Is American football "safer" because of the protective gear or does it just look like it should be?

Edit to add: DC is 14

How old is DC precisely?

They will have "age appropriate" lessons. If he's 8, he's not going to be wearing full pads and crashing into 25 year old men going full tilt.

Good point, have edited to add his age. He's quite large for his age.

If they’re both uncommon sports is there even a choice? Is there a rugby club nearby or is it just the American football club?

I don’t know enough about American football but rugby union has taken steps to reduce risks by lowering the height of tackles, for example. I think you’re probably best just taking him along to try them out and see.

Ok, he's not going to be playing against adults then.

NFLUK, BAFA are pretty big on safety because it's understandably a major concern given it is a contact sport. Do you know which club it is recruiting?

I'm sure they'll be happy to talk to you directly and explain exactly where the limitations are on what he'll likely be doing, who he would be practicing with and playing against, and so on.

Here is a list of all the BAFA clubs. Most all of them will have their own websites, or you could just call the national secretary if you can't pin down precisely who to talk to. Generally speaking, the US sports are really good at parent interaction and keeping people in the loop, to a far more responsible degree than grassroots "soccer" for example, because they know they are up against it being a "foreign" sport to begin with, and they tend to be run and administered by people with a huge amount of passion for, and knowledge of the game, who don't want to be seen to be playing fast and loose.

Anyway, the list -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAFA_National_Leagues

It seems there is both a rugby club and an American football club close to us. That's a good idea to see if there is a league.

I don’t think I’d be happy with mine playing football. Unless they’ve specified flag football than high school would usually be full contact. There are a worrying amount of concussions even at high school level that new research is linking to CTE (degenerative brain disease) in later life. The NFL has restrictions on how much contact play is allowed in the off season and during practices, which the high school game doesn’t have and that combined with the varying quality of coaches can in theory mean that a teen is taking more hits than would be allowed for the pros. Obviously it’s position dependent though. Kickers obviously fine. QBs take less hits than linebackers.

American football seems to have lots of helmets and padding. Rugby seems a lot rougher with players running around with bloody noses and cauliflower ears all the time.

DH coaches Rugby. According to him... apparently American football is considering removing some of the protective gear to improve safety as it makes players think they are invincible.

Both are risky sports. There is concussion risks and related problems.

I didn't let my ds play American football and I wouldn't let him play rugby either. However he did play flag football and loved it. is that an option?

I was doing a bit of reading earlier and there does seem to be a suggestion that because of the equipment in American football a lot of tackles are led by the head/helmet - not the case so much in rugby - but there are more concussions/serious injuries in rugby overall. The research I was looks at predates some of the recent changes to rugby tackling rules so hopefully that will reduce.

I would go with your son's enthusiasm and enjoyment.

If it's unusual for your DS to enjoy sport just let him join in enjoy the activity and the community of it. It would all be much more comfortable for you if it was badminton but it's not.

Lots of people do these sports and at high levels there are higher risks. Are we really talking that sort of expectation from your son?

I would just be pleased he'd found something he likes. I would be choosing that.