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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think that rugby players really show footballers up for the wimps that they are?

221 replies

HangingBasketCase · 07/02/2015 19:21

Just saw on the news that a Welsh rugby player was knocked out cold during their game with England last night, despite most likely being concussed he got up and carried on. Earlier in the game another player broke his nose, was strapped up and just carried on. Meanwhile footballers roll around on the pitch in mock agony when they break a sodding finger nail!

I'm a life long football fan, but I'm becoming more and more disillusioned with the game if I'm honest. The vile insults hurled at each other by fans, the over dramatic displays of "agony" because the played want a penalty thrown in their way. It's pathetic.

Why isn't rugby more popular than football?

OP posts:
DoctorShoe · 07/02/2015 22:09

Red Ross. Grin

ooerrmissus · 07/02/2015 22:12

Sorry but if we are trying to decide who is hardest, look up Bert Troutman. Played an FA cup final I think it was having broken his neck.

If I had to pick I'd say Rugby was the most dangerous. But male cheerleaders are the hardest of all. That takes real balls.

Alisvolatpropiis · 07/02/2015 22:14

JPR Williams was my mums consultant back in the 80's. Had a very erm...forthright bedside manner apparently.

sanfairyanne · 07/02/2015 22:16

its disgraceful to let a player continue with a head injury and disgusting to hold that up as an example of good sportsmanship

kilmuir · 07/02/2015 22:21

yanbu.
secondYouTheCat

FightOrFlight · 07/02/2015 22:24

To be fair, Bert Trautmann didn't actually know that he'd broken his neck!

There's been a number of rugby players who have continued matches with undiagnosed broken necks - the adrenaline masks the pain.

Aeroflotgirl · 07/02/2015 22:26

Yanbu at all, we are better at Rugby. England team is embarassing and a joke.

choccyp1g · 07/02/2015 22:27

Yes but Troutman himself said he wouldn't have played on if he had KNOWN his neck was broken.
Even watching on TV I thought that 2 players should have stayed off for concussion. You could see they were dazed. The thing is that leg injuries hurt a lot at the time whereas seemingly trivial head injuries can build up over time with very serious consequences.

Much as I love rugby, I am secretly glad that DS doesn't want to join the school team.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 07/02/2015 22:27

What a stupid thread to be proud of.

Let's hope George North recovers after being allowed to play on whilst injured .

He would have bern taken off during a football match and not been allowed to return.

choccyp1g · 07/02/2015 22:30

The playacting by some footballers would be cured in an instant if the rule was that if you lie on the floor for more than say 20 seconds, then you are obviously injured so you go off for treatment and stay off.

JapaneseMargaret · 07/02/2015 22:33

I absolutely hate football, and it's purely down to the culture that surrounds it.

The ridiculous salaries are just the tip of the iceberg, but they feed into it. Far worse is the inherent and insidiously ingrained sexism, racism, homophobia, violence and thuggery.

The whole Ched Evans farce just sums it up, IMO.

I'm not in sports at all really, but give me rugby over football any day.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 07/02/2015 22:38

Rugby is as twattish as football , the players are just built studier.

Plenty of twats in tbe name of rugby.

Look at Ben Flower.

whattheseithakasmean · 07/02/2015 22:48

At least rugby fans can sit together like civilised adults & don't have to be segregated like pathetic testosterone fuelled half wits

ChippingInGluggingOn · 07/02/2015 22:50

Two words.

ALL BLACKS

GatoradeMeBitch · 07/02/2015 22:58

I don't think helmets really help. NFL footballers wear them and seem to suffer a lot of head injuries still. Like this

Actually the Seahawks are trying to adopt rugby tackling in the NFL - tackling the body instead of head on collisions.

minesapintofwine · 07/02/2015 23:29

If you are talking in terms of hard knocks op yanbu, as rugby is, after all, a contact sport. However there is a big rugby v football argument and my stance is this: I live in a very typical Welsh valleys town and rugby is traditionally prominant. Dh has played rugby for 20+ years and is coaching, playing, sleeping, eating and breathing it still. However...he also likes football, follows it and watches it, has played and reffed it. Im not into football as I find it too slow but I do love rugby. Dh moans that in football there are loads of 'actors' but we both appreciate that going out and playing well (there are arseholes in both sports) for your team is not wimpish and deserves respect. So in that sense I am on the fence. Oh and Ive often seen dh whinging after injury so even though you are more likely to have a blow in a contact sport it still hurts.

Playing on with a concussion is stupid.

Andro · 07/02/2015 23:36

My major argument with player conduct in football is how they 'interact' with the referee, rugby union players doing the same mobbing/arguing/hassling would find themselves penalised for it and rightly so. The ref isn't always right, but they are the final authority during a match and that needs to be respected.

Basilbrushestail · 07/02/2015 23:41

I'm a little on thw fence having been to a premier league match today and heard the nasty thud of 2 heads clashing and the sight of 2 players being motionless for a couple of minutes. Their sides player was replaced ours carried on.

However I admire motircycle racers, they carry on regardless of injury.

TywysogesGymraeg · 07/02/2015 23:56

Rugby is a bloody brilliant game as well as actually being bloody
Strong discipline from very young of respecting the ref and the opposition. Round here the juniors change into shirt and tie after the game to go into the clubhouse for a drink.
I was a bit worried about Halfpenny too yesterday, but he seemed OK in the end.
As someone said, there are very strict rules about playing after bumps to the head, bleeding injuries etc in rugby, so I'm sure the medic was absolutely certain North was OK.

TywysogesGymraeg · 08/02/2015 00:04

And my DF used to sign off JPR's expensesAlisvolatpropiis!!

Sirzy · 08/02/2015 00:06

Rugby league have this season tightened up the rules with regards concussion to say that if there is any suspicions the player must go off for at least 10 mins (free interchange) for a full assessment before playing on is considered

elephantoverthehill · 08/02/2015 00:30

Rugby is not a 'contact' sport it is an 'evasion' sport. It involves contact but you don't get through unless evade the opponent. I don't think football players are necessarily wimps (although they do annoy me) they seem to be only focussed on their legs and feet. Rugby players have to use their whole bodies and I agree that the adrenaline pumping gets a lot of players through the game as well as their mothers, helpless on the touch line.

inabeautifulplace · 08/02/2015 01:13

Let's be honest, there's a fair amount of punching, biting and gouging in rugby which wouldn't be acceptable if it happened in football. Less so these days but still a double standard.

Nagsnovalballs · 08/02/2015 01:34

Real women play rugby too. I used to be a season ticket holder at arsenal but the further I got in my rugby career, I lost the love!

Alisvolatpropiis · 08/02/2015 01:39

It's a small world (when you live in South Wales), isn't it Tywy! Grin

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