Every fan of American football has found themselves in a classic dialogue at least once. They tell a friend about their favorite sport, to which they receive the question: “Is this like rugby?”
And here people are divided into two types. Some launch into heated explanations that these are completely different sports, and the dynamics of the game are fundamentally different.
The interlocutor does not understand anything and nods, but then still tells that he has a friend who plays rugby. The second give in: they just nod, say “yes” and do not waste another second on explanations. In this text, we tried to help not only those interested in sports, but also all our readers, because confusing rugby and American football is a sign of bad manners. Yes, these games mainly involve the hands. But they are also used to play handball and basketball, but no one usually confuses these sports.
For anyone who plays football (or rugby), the difference between the sports is obvious. For anyone who watches regularly, the difference is also obvious. For the average person who thinks Ovechkin is the staff captain from The Elusive Avengers, there is no difference. Let’s run through the key points.
Walter Camp was not the first to start thinking about changes to the rules of classic rugby – American college students approached this task back in the late 1860s, but all the key ideas were formalized and finalized thanks to him. As a result, even during his lifetime, Camp began to be called the father of American football.