American Football causes brain damage

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FWIW American football evolved out of rugby. I haven't really watched too much rugby or had much exposure to it(that boring Matt Damon/Morgan Freeman movie probably being the most) in the US and when I think about it seems like a sport that people like the Bush's and Kennedy's would play at some Ivy League school. Kind of like lacrosse.

typo

Last edited by Jacoby on 15 Mar 2016, 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Rugby is a sport for hooligans played by gentlemen.

Soccer is a sport for gentlemen played by hooligans.

American Football is a sport for hooligans played by hooligans.

Australian Football is a sport where hooligans are hunted for sport.

^^Which Rugby would that be - Union or League?

Rugby Union was the original, purely amateur game, starting out as very much the 'Ivy League' type of thing imagined earlier. It was played initially in British public schools - such as at the town Rugby, from where it got the name. (confusingly, UK "public schools" are what most would call private schools - i.e. fee paying). It remained amateur until only a couple of decades ago.

Rugby League is traditionally the working class game. In order to keep the best factory workers in their company teams, the bosses started paying their usual wage in lieu of taking Saturdays off work to play (Victorian times - 6 day work weeks, and no sport on the Sabbath). The toffs, who were loaded and always free to play whenever they wanted, objected that this was professionalism by the back door, and simply wouldn't do - so eventually Rugby League split off. If folks say 'Rugby' up here in Yorkshire, this is the one they mean.

After nearly a century, the rules diverged so much that even I can just about tell the difference!

League, probably.

Rugby Union is of the gentlemen, for the gentlemen and by the gentlemen.

Seriously... this is Rugby School, the birthplace of Rugby Union...



It's basically a real-world Hogwarts... Can't have hooligans, ruffians, muggles, Men of Low Moral Fiber and other ne'er-do-wells attending here, now can we?

No I don't think it should be banned...though perhaps the ridiculous amount of funding that goes into American Football could be reduced somehow. There probably are better uses for all that money.

We should keep all these institutions, but tax the s**t out of them and funnel it to helping the needy. Then these athletes can be real heroes like they claim.

Last edited by Feyokien on 15 Mar 2016, 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Green Bay Packers are a non-profit organization publicly owned by their fans, this is not a set up that is allowed in modern professional sports but is something I feel is much preferable. Honestly these sports franchises are so profitable and with these stadiums are such huge pieces of infrastructure that I don't understand why municipalities don't cut out the middle man and reap all the benefits for themselves. Things don't have to be so exploitive.

Seahawks coach has integrated rugby techniques into their game (with some silly names).



I somewhat disagree with tracking the thigh, it is away best to tack the core never the limbs until you close in. It is easily to deal with changes in direction. To use the TV screen analogy, you should keep your arm close like a target an track until wrap. IF you arms are out wide it would be harder to change direction, wrap without them breaking through.

The perception of Rugby Union being for toffs is somewhat wrong. People forget the Association Football was once preferred by Public schools (what you call private/independent schools these days), rather than the poor. Rugby became popular in these schools but that not the whole story.

Wales particularly preferred union over league as to many European countries.

League produces the most punch up becuase of frustration from the turn over. However union is a great game becuase of play on mentality.

AF is a high insensitivity power game. I about set plays

Rugby is about stamina. It is bout "play on" especially you can't just rely on set plays.

You don't get the substitutions you get in AF.

It is completely possible to have 4 men off the field playing a full team in Rugby. You have to play on, you can't refresh every position.

I grew up watching American football. I even watched rugby a couple of times, and enjoyed it.

I'm not one of those who are a fanatic about it, like many Midwesterners and Southerners are fanatical about college football. But, frankly, I would miss it should they ban it (they won't ban it).

But serious dialogue does definitely have to occur pertaining the reduction, or elimination, of concussions during a football game.

The idea that paying professional athletes somehow takes away from things like helping the poor is completely off. Tax dollars don't pay player's salaries, the team owners do- who are all billionaires. They are spending to make their product more desirable to be watched so they can turn a larger profit. Sure, in some cases tax dollars help to build stadiums, and granted, there have been some bad deals there. But it's not the only time taxes are spent on public works and not enough gotten back.

The team owners will make money off the entertainment professional leagues bring, so it only stands to reason that the players see a large part of these revenues. People pay to be entertained. They pay for Cable TV, Movie tickets, concerts, blu ray movies, video games, etc. Entertainers get paid because entertainment is in high demand. And there are a limited supply of people who can provide said entertainment.

If we eliminated football, people would just spend on other sports. We eliminated all sports, they'd spend more on other things to entertain themselves. If you honestly think because you take football away that all of these people are gonna give that money to charity, you're nuts. I know I would not. I need entertainment to live a life that is worth living.

And players, being in a very high tax bracket pay out the ass for taxes as it is. Depending on what state they play in, it could be as much as half between state and fed. Plus a lot of the players are involved in their own charities and give a lot of time and money to them. The professional leagues also so "socially responsible" things for charity as well.

Heck, watching American Football cause brain damage!

The "discussion" has been going on for several years now. But it's not a discussion at all. It's an argument between two sides who want what they want. There's only so much you can do in a collision sport to reduce the possibility of head injuries, and I think almost every reasonable step has already been taken. The next step is to make significant changes to the game itself such as eliminating kickoffs (widely considered the most dangerous play) or increasing the size of the field, or putting fewer players on the field (which the NFLPA would never agree to).

If you want to reduce concussions, use 1960/50s helmets and pads, and teach a tackling technique that doesn't invole using you head as a battering ram.

Or if they want to do that, take their helmet off completely. They won't worry about concussion because their neck will be broken.

One of the most important thing with concussion is as soon as there is the first sign take the decision away from the player. Of course the play may want to get back on may feel fine, as concussion can be like that.

The decision needs to be taken by people with no vested interest and be final.

Shoulder barges are legal in league (without the arms goign round).

Never are these called 'tackles', it is an alternative.

The word tackling implies you wrap your arms round, or at least that what most of the world thinks.

This is already being done for, I think three seasons now, and it got stricter last season as the doctors are now no longer team employees and authorized to halt the game until said player is removed.

I think we have to give tackling techniques a generation to take hold before we judge if better technique is used. Trying to teach a guy who is already a professional to do the thing he's done thousands of times now differently during a split-second decision is not always easy.

I also think there should be penalties for receivers ducking and exposing their heads to hits that were ticketed for the midsection. I saw, on a number of occasions, defensive players get flagged on head contact that was the fault of the offensive player by ducking into it.

Thing is this is not new, they used to tackle more with shoulder in the past or so I'm told.

I understand the very early game there were many injuries due to technique, they add more protection but the neck support came later.

Personally I think they should remove the neck support.