What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012)

Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by ghaff on Saturday October 31, 2015 @05:16PM (#10484233)

Of course, the rest of the world has a football-like sport (rugby--sorry, Australia) which suggests that there's a fair bit of demand for that general type of sport--and not just in the US. Rugby has its own issues with concussions although probably not as much as American football.

In general, I agree with the article that football isn't "too big to fail." I'm not sure lawsuits is so much the path though as kids simply not playing. That doesn't seem to be happening however.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by untog on Saturday October 31, 2015 @05:50PM (#10484363)

I'm not sure lawsuits is so much the path though as kids simply not playing. That doesn't seem to be happening however.

True, though the broader demographic shift interests me - soccer is increasing in popularity for kids, given its popularity among hispanic populations. Presumably to the detriment of something, and I can believe it would be football.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by Synaesthesia on Saturday October 31, 2015 @05:30PM (#10484286)

What's interesting is that in Rugby you wear basically no protective gear, which is probably why it has less injuries. With a helmet and armour you feel much more invulnerable.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by untog on Saturday October 31, 2015 @05:46PM (#10484346)

Also tackles above the waist are forbidden. In American Football you can pretty much just throw your entire body anywhere, with unsurprising results.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by jamessb on Saturday October 31, 2015 @08:06PM (#10484805)

It is tackles above the shoulder (not waist) that are forbidden (along with striking an opponent with a stiff-arm whilst tackling, tripping, picking up and dropping a player etc.).

Law 10.4 specifies what is considered 'dangerous play': http://laws.worldrugby.org/?law=10.4

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by srtjstjsj on Saturday October 31, 2015 @06:17PM (#10484448)

this video disagrees with your claim about rugby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ1Mt0LdCfY

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by untog on Sunday November 01, 2015 @01:13AM (#10485612)

Fouls happen. I don't mean to diminish that, but when the base of the game is to disallow bad tackles then there will be far fewer incidents of bad tackling.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by Synaesthesia on Sunday November 01, 2015 @01:37AM (#10485550)

You can't tackle someone around the neck in rugby or too high, it's a foul called a "high tackle"

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by uououuttt on Sunday November 01, 2015 @12:41AM (#10485436)

It's also that American football has a lot of downtime between the relatively short plays, whereas Rugby has a more constant style of play. An entire NFL game consists of roughly 11-12 minutes of actual gameplay -- the most recent numbers for rugby I could find put it at ~35 minutes. So, players are less fatigued and can hit harder and faster.

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Re:What Would the End of Football Look Like? (2012) by untog on Sunday November 01, 2015 @01:14AM (#10485614)

Also many more substitutions, which plays into exactly the idea you mentioned.

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