Football or rugby? Which is the better sport? It’s a question that has sparked many debates in the past and will continue to do so for many years to come. However, to save you time and effort in the future, we can provide you with the definitive answer – football is better than rugby.
Why? Well, there are many reasons we could give you, but at the top of the list are the words – ‘because it is better’. In truth, there should be no debate about it, but read on as we give you four key reasons why football stands head and shoulders above rugby.
Football has much wider appeal
Football has a much broader appeal than rugby, and that point is hammered home every time a World Cup comes around. France 2018 saw more than 3.5 billion people watch football’s big event, while just over 850 million watched rugby’s equivalent event in Japan last year.
While rugby bets with 888 were hugely popular during the latter tournament, wagering goes off the scale when big football competitions are staged. Football remains a truly global game, while rugby simply isn’t on the radar of many countries around the world.
The skill level is higher in football
Think back to your school days – the skilful pupils were the ones who played football. Rugby tended to attract the less athletic types. Flower it up anyway you like, but the skill level required to play professional football is much higher than in rugby.
Sure, there are technical nuances in rugby that can make it an enthralling watch, but when compared with football, it just doesn’t match up. If you want free-flowing action such as the Premier League that is easy on the eye, then football beats rugby hands-down every day of the week.
Rugby can’t even make its own mind up
We all know what football is. Two teams, eleven players on each side and the team who scores the most goals wins the game. Rugby, on the other hand, has something of an identity problem. For starters, we’ve got rugby union and rugby league. Which one is rugby?
In each code the teams have differing numbers of players, the rules aren’t the same, and the scoring is unfathomable. It’s madness. If rugby can’t even decide which version of the game to settle on, how is anybody else supposed to know what’s what?
And now, the daft stuff
Any sport requiring a ball should ensure that the ball is round. An egg is not a ball and quite why rugby thinks it should be is anyone’s guess. Then there’s the songs. Is there anything more tedious than hearing large numbers of the Conservative Party singing ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’? It’s awful.
Finally, the Haka. Apparently, it’s used by New Zealand to lay down a challenge to their next unsuspecting opposition. However, teams aren’t allowed to challenge it. So, one side can fire themselves up before a game, and their opponents have to stand there and take it? How very sporting.
