Difference Between American Football and Rugby?

I'm not sure it can be broken down into bullet form -- the two sports are just too fundamentally different -- but I'll give it a shot. They two do share the same root (the 1871 Rugby Football Union Code) but have evolved in different ways. There are now a number of major differences which make them take completely different forms. These are:

1. The off-side rule.

In rugby you must play offense from behind the ball-carrier. If you are in front of the ball you are off-side, and if you interfere with a tackler you get penalized for obstruction. In gridiron there is no such concept, and all offensive plays have blocking assignments where the entire purpose is to "obstruct" a defender.

2. The breakdown/tackle.

In American football play is whistled down at the tackle and everyone gets up and resets for a pre-planned play at the "line of scrimmage". A team has four of these plays, or “downs”, to advance the ball ten yards. If they fail to do so they must turn it over to the opposition.

In Rugby they have a "competitive" breakdown. A tackled player must release the ball, and both teams are then free to compete for it in a contest called a ruck. It means that there are much fewer breaks in play in rugby and the players need to be much "fitter". The rules of a ruck – which are really quite strict despite the apparent chaos – are such that the offensive team has an advantage in retaining possession of the ball, but it is my no means a sure thing. Every tackle gives the defence a reasonable shot at stealing the ball.

3. The kicking game

Because possession turns over so often in rugby, teams are usually willing to kick the ball away in their end, hoping to either field it themselves or poach it from an opposition player further downfield. This differs from American football, where a kicked ball must must (usually) be touched by an opposition player before the kicking team can attempt to field it.

In American football, kicks (punts or field goal attempts) usually only take place in fourth down situations where possession is no longer guaranteed on the next down.

4. The substitution rules.

Huge difference here – and perhaps the most important. In American football you have unlimited substitutions. Teams dress 45 players for a game, but only eleven on are the field at any given time. Players may rotate on and off at every break in the action.

In rugby you dress 22 players, 15 of whom start. Substitutions are permanent, so at least 8 players must be on the field for the entire game. It means that the two games require an entirely different form of “fitness”. In rugby players need more stamina, while gridiron players will excel in sudden explosive/power movements. It also limits the size of rugby players (to about 280 lbs at elite levels) as they have to drag their mass up and down the pitch for the full 80 minutes.

5. The forward pass.

Really not as significant as some feel. In American football some high school or college squads will rarely (if ever) throw a forward pass. But it is a cosmetic difference that everyone notices. And it still affects the flow of the game. Gridiron defenses get a chance to reposition themselves after every play. making it relatively easy to plug up the running lanes. It was a real problem about 100 years ago, until the Americans came up with the idea of throwing the ball forward (only once per “play” and only then from a point behind where the play started) as a way to force the defense to spread out. It wasn't used a whole lot for a few decades, and no one at the time dreamed that it would become an integral part of the offensive game.

In rugby the ball can never be played forward from the hands. Doing so caused a scrum, with the put-in (and the advantage which comes with it) to the non-offending side.

There are other fiddly differences -- in the way points are awarded, and the way play is restarted (lineouts or scrums in rugby verses the "scrimmage" in American football) in some situations, but the ones I have outlined above dictate the flow of the two games, and are the ones which make them very distinct. If you want more detail there is a wikipedia article which compares the two. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_America...

Oh -- and remember. Plagerism is a serious academic offense. And in the age of internet search programs, pretty easy to spot. But this gives you something to work with.

The forward pass and body armor were both the result of possible laws (yes, the federal government did get involved) after people died and got seriously injured playing the game in high school and college. The power is about equal to a guy being hit by a normal sized guy on a motorcycle going 15-16 mph and getting hit about 40 times a game. In the NFL, there is just over 40 players. It use to be that there was just 11 players plus some back ups. The quarterback would switch to safety on defense. After more people got injured per season and the positions became more complicated, more players were added. The offensive team has 6 (including the quarterback) offensive guys and 5 guys dedicated as blockers.The basic rule is the offense has 4 tries to get 10 yards. After 4 tries they can start all over again. They have the option on the fourth down to punt the ball to the other team. They do this to prevent the other team to get better field position. The objective is to get 3 points for a kicked field goal or 6 points for a touch down. After the touchdown, the offense has the option of going for a 1 point extra kick or a 2 point "conversion" which is basically like trying to score another touchdown, from 2 yards away. The defense can score a touchdown by intercepting a pass or grabbing a fumble and running it back the other way past the end zone. The defense can also score by tackling an opponent behind his own end zone and that's called a safty worth 2 points.

Would you like someone to print it out and hand it in for you too?