What's the difference between 'American football' & 'Rugby'?
78884
The biggest difference is that play doesn't ever stop until the ball goes out of bounds or somebody scores.  Players can run forward but have to pass the ball backwards.  There is no blocking allowed.  In rugby union rules, a try is worth 5 points, the kick after is worth 2, and a drop kick, which is legal at any time in play, is worth 3.  The offense essentially can hold on to the ball until they score or the defense takes it away.  There's a ton of other rules differences, but that at least is the skeleton of play.  Also, it's played all over the world, second only to soccer in popularity.
239868
Rugby isnt necessarily a "snobby" game and is played by many island nations such as Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. It is commonly played in UK,france,NZ,aus and south africa. The major difference in rules is in league, you team is allowed 5 runs with the ball, each run ending with the opposition player bringing them to ground (tackle). AT the completion of these tackles it is common to kick the ball in an offensive manner. in Rugby union you must release the ball when tackled, forming a ruck where players compete for possession. mauls are also common, where players bind onto each other  whilst in possession of the ball, this in open play, then attempt to push the ball and their team down the field trying to gain territory. League try (the placing of the ball in an opponents end zone) is worth 4 points where union is worth 5. league is more front on and straightforward running and can be quite predictable at times, where union is much more varied with various other ways to gain ground, and to gain possesion rather than simpyl running it. league is more physical and rougher where as union involves a greater range of skills, rather than mere brute strength.
1153889
American football is not for wimps, its for utter pansies. The hits in rugby are comparable to the hits in American football. however what is this special teams stuff, once your on the pitch stay on the pitch. Until you've laid on the wrong side of a ruck in rugby you will never know just how soft American footballers really are. There are a few differences with equipment as well, the body Armour used in American football, bloody hell why all that padding? where are they playing Baghdad?. and they certainly don't wear huge studded, hardened toe capped boots. so there you have it. Rugby is a game for men of enormous stature and bravery, and American football is played by the male equivalent of a 5 year old girl. PS. murder ball is the only true game!
1129626
Many forms of the game have been played for centuries.  The Romans Aztecs and in medevial britian for instance.  The modern version we know is a derivitive of a game made famous at Eton school.  It is called football but has a wall and very loose rules involved.  The modern game was organised and generated by business and government in the mid nineteenth century in order to give the working class something to do other than get drunk and fight after various acts of parliment gave them time off work.\n\n\nPS the other explanation of rugby is wrong.  It was created by a Mr Ellis who picked up a football and ran with it during a match at Rugby School
45718
DUH!!!! In rugby you wear basically no padding and you tackle each other! DUH Rugby is more dangerous!
622013
If you're talking about an american football, it derives from its original cousin, the rugby ball, which was invented at Rugby School, in the district of Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
514311
What does this have to do with rugby?
32226
canada at least, they got their own league, the CFL, here, in europe, we have a pro league too called the NFLE (E for Europe), teams are mostly based in germany, otherwise, each european country has its own non-pro league\nTo answer your second question, no, (US) football and rugby are to different sports; they have some things in common, like, for instance, the shape of the ball (although the pigskin is a bit smaller than the rugby ball) and the way to score points (entering the endzone with the ball) although in tugby, the ball MUST touch the ground in order to score the 5 or 6 pts...
683153
Could it be because Americans are clueless? American football is a game where the ball is predominantly thrown or carried the ball gets kicked far less then it is thrown or carried.In the rest of the world Football is called football because a ball is predominantly kicked.
66753
Rugby is popular as a club sport.  But the clubs in America are a part of the USA Rugby Association so they are official.  There are quite a few really good men's and women's teams.  I haven't seen it so much as a school sport...at least not at a high school level.  College it's touch and go.
68776
Rugby rules!\n\nSee and compare these two:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football\n\nAnd you can die for your sport (though less frequent these days). From rugby in New Zealand:\n"The finding of ACC in the late 1980's that rugby cost the taxpayer over $20 million dollars per year in new and ongoing entitlement claims. There were, on average, 2 deaths, 1500 hospital admissions, and 20,000 Accident and Emergency consultations per year as a result of rugby."\n\nThis is taken from a page talking about what NZ is doing to work on preventing injuries, see:\nhttp://www.nzrugbynet.co.nz/NZRFU/Resource+Library/RugbySmart.htm\n\nI see NFL as more of a business in the USA than a sport. It's totally ruled by TV schedules and players earn and are therefore worth so much money that they need to wear monumental amounts of protection so that clubs get their return on investment.
461059
in Europe/south America/Africa and a part of Asia its called football.....in the USA its called soccer cuz they have another sport thats called football....of course the americans have no logic calling the american football football cuz it looks like a kind of rugby and u dont play it just with the foot....americans r idiots...
168264
Derived from the English game of rugby, American football was started in 1879 with rules instituted by Walter Camp, player and coach at Yale University.
169987
both are same game \namericans call it soccer whereas other world called it football\n\namerican have other sports name football which play with wearing helmet and differ in some rule of soccer
1069527
Football... Its more active and its a long game and american football is has shorter games i'm from england, I build muscule by playing football european ppl r fit cause they play football. American ppl play american football but they r still fat!
819854
The word "soccer" actually comes from England, where the   modern version of the game originated.\nIn England, there were two types of football: rugby football and association football. The slang term for rugby football was "rugger," and the slang for association football was "assoc." The word "assoc" gradually evolved into "soccer," which was much easier to say.\nWhen association football was introduced to North America, gridiron football (the type played by the NFL and in the Super Bowl) was already well established. To avoid confusion, Americans adopted the British nickname "soccer" for the new sport.\n\nGreg
974618
I have never tried either one. I like rugby