Sports you do not "get"

[Jon MW]

rugby union just always seems a mess of a game to me

i dont mind rugby league

RL is too structured

Run straight ahead 5 times, get tackled, kick it on the sixth

Other team has a go

If you are close to the line you can't get through very often so have to kick it in the air and hope you win a 50-50 catch, or a grubber kick and a different 50-50 chance

I am a Union fan, which is a game hamstrung by its current rules but exhiliarating at best

I'm not a fan of either rugby's, but how anyone could prefer union to league is beyond me.

Im absolutely certain that you show any individual a game of league & union who has never watched rubgy and they would never chose union! It is one of the worst spectator sports there is.  The "pleasure" in the game tends to be in the nuances of the rules and therefore the plays taken. It is so unbelievably dull  it hurts.

A game finished 18-21 and there hasn't been a try! So wait..................... the idea is to run with the ball across the line, but nobody did that today and the score was 18-21! errrrrrrrrr ok!

All you need in Union is a world class kicker and you will win!

seriously?

I only watch internationals so it might be different, but surely the entertainment value for the casual viewers is the tackling?

Occasionally there might be a fantastic long run for a touch down, but passing, try scoring and kicking aren't that exciting - for the casual viewer it has to be the tackling; how would anybody think the league version of tackling is more interesting than the Union version?

[Woodsey]

Football- Partly because I find boring, and partly because most of the guys that played it at school and Uni were just total nobs who caused me to lose the little interest I had in it already.

Darts- Not sure I should even include it here as I don't think its a sport. A bunch of unhealthy overweight slobs doesn't really seem right at the top end of a 'sport', at least with sports like sumo the size/weight is there to help them win.

[outragous76]

Technically the idea of the game is to kick the ball over the bar. Historically, the only way you could do that was to put the ball down over the line, following which you were allowed to have a go at kicking the ball over the bar; hence, this putting the ball down was called getting a try.

I prefer union tbh, but am more than happy watching either code.

Im going to do a "camel"

I actually actively dislike Union as it shows up everything that is terrible about this country ! It is a sport based on the class system. It has to be one of the few sports where the grass roots are terribly supported but the International level of the game has a disproportionate following (and for all of the wrong (corporate) reasons).

The number of people who I hear "love rugga" but cant tell you the most basic of rules is simply embarrassing, and especially moreso when sat underneath "Twickers" having a corporate lunch awaiting kick off.

The number of professional people who "love rugga" because they feel they have too is even more painful.

Its the embodiment of our antiquated class system still trying to play itself out through sport.

[Woodsey]

Technically the idea of the game is to kick the ball over the bar. Historically, the only way you could do that was to put the ball down over the line, following which you were allowed to have a go at kicking the ball over the bar; hence, this putting the ball down was called getting a try.

I prefer union tbh, but am more than happy watching either code.

Im going to do a "camel"

I actually actively dislike Union as it shows up everything that is terrible about this country ! It is a sport based on the class system. It has to be one of the few sports where the grass roots are terribly supported but the International level of the game has a disproportionate following (and for all of the wrong (corporate) reasons).

The number of people who I hear "love rugga" but cant tell you the most basic of rules is simply embarrassing, and especially moreso when sat underneath "Twickers" having a corporate lunch awaiting kick off.

The number of professional people who "love rugga" because they feel they have too is even more painful.

Its the embodiment of our antiquated class system still trying to play itself out through sport.

There are deffo some nobs who like to do 'twickers', but I think the vast majority a just normal middle class blokes like myself. I think the term 'rugga' is dying out as the old crew die off, don't know anyone below 50 who says that fortunately.

[bobby1]

I had a boss who would watch the Union highlights show every week simply to give him a conversation topic at various business meetings/get together's he went to. Would drop in a few ' that try by William/Henry at the death was real quality wasn't it' and then let a load of posh guys talk thru their take on the weekends action as he nodded along.

Edit..    He did give me a cracking bit of advice tho, if there is someone you fancy in the office always buy the same newspaper as them as it is easier to converse when you know what they have been reading about. His nut advice tho was go round the office and tell a few of the girls you need a new aftershave as you are bored with the one  you are using. Then buy the one that the girl(s) you fancy suggest so you know they will love the way you smell when near them.

Winnerz 

[Woodsey]

I had a boss who would watch the Union highlights show every week simply to give him a conversation topic at various business meetings/get together's he went to. Would drop in a few ' that try by William/Henry at the death was real quality wasn't it' and then let a load of posh guys talk thru their take on the weekends action as he nodded along.

Smart bloke if it got him in with the right people for work, I do the same with footy if I had to deal with a bunch of chavs lol, needs must and all that. 

[Tal]

Technically the idea of the game is to kick the ball over the bar. Historically, the only way you could do that was to put the ball down over the line, following which you were allowed to have a go at kicking the ball over the bar; hence, this putting the ball down was called getting a try.

I prefer union tbh, but am more than happy watching either code.

Im going to do a "camel"

I actually actively dislike Union as it shows up everything that is terrible about this country ! It is a sport based on the class system. It has to be one of the few sports where the grass roots are terribly supported but the International level of the game has a disproportionate following (and for all of the wrong (corporate) reasons).

The number of people who I hear "love rugga" but cant tell you the most basic of rules is simply embarrassing, and especially moreso when sat underneath "Twickers" having a corporate lunch awaiting kick off.

The number of professional people who "love rugga" because they feel they have too is even more painful.

Its the embodiment of our antiquated class system still trying to play itself out through sport.

Alright, Billy Bragg

I think it's a game more schools should play instead of football, having done so myself. Wasn't a huge fan when the opposition started getting much bigger tho...

It is funny how there is such a divide between middle class south and working class north in rugby. Can't think of any other sport like that

[DungBeetle]

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me. 

Bleak memories.

[Woodsey]

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me.  

Bleak memories.

Poof  
















I might have been one of those props  

[DungBeetle]

Yep - how I celebrated a frozen pitch when I could get on with my flower arranging in the warmth

[Longy]

League > Union and I grew up in a middle class family down south.

Union just doesn't flow enough and is dogged by penalties that the vast majority of fans couldn't give an opinion on whether the ref was right or wrong to give it that way. These penalties then decide a lot of tight games, farcical state of affairs for a spectator sport.

[bobby1]

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me.  

Bleak memories.

I think any sport that involves regularly having a man's head near your arse crack/ putting your head near a mans arse crack deffo has issues.

[Marky147]

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me. 

Bleak memories.

I think any sport that involves regularly having a man's head near your arse crack/ putting uour head near a mans arse crack deffo has issues.

I hated playing second row, but loved playing prop or back row.

[Tal]

Used to hate rugby at school when I was 10 or so.  When they don't let you kick penalties any kind of infringement results in a scrum so you get about a hundred per match.  I used to be hooker, and just spend the game suspended in the middle of the scrum held up by the two rhinos who played as props hoping for the best and aiming not to end up in the massive puddle a few feet below me with all the rhinos on top of me. 

Bleak memories.

I think any sport that involves regularly having a man's head near your arse crack/ putting uour head near a mans arse crack deffo has issues.

Not a Greco-Roman wrestling fan, then?

[tikay]

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