Nov 23 2008

Soccer Fight v. Rugby Fight

Published by Dave at 11:54 am under Association Football, Rugby Football

Let’s compare, shall we? First, the Corinthians v. Avai dust-up in Brazil:

Next, Scotland v. Fiji turns into a boxing match at the Rugby League World Cup:

The difference? For one, the soccer fight dragged on for a little while, and all sorts of side skirmishes broke out, whereas the rugby fight, while clearly fiercer, ended quckly, and nobody came off the bench.

For another, the rugby referee was clearly respected and feared. Show me one soccer ref on this planet — or one NFL ref, for that matter — that gets that much respect from the players. It’s as if the rugby refs are all scanners, and if you disobey them, they will make your head ’splode. Which would be pretty awesome, come to think of it…

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Soccer Fight v. Rugby Fight”

  1. # a different Daveon 25 Nov 2008 at 9:00 pm

    Dave, Dave, Dave. These cross-codes comparisons are silly. I could probably find plenty of examples on YouTube that would run counter to your thesis if I wanted to waste my time looking (like I did Googling for rugby riots).

    First off, soccer is huge worldwide and there’s no single “soccer culture” when it comes to fights. What you find in South America is going to look different from different parts of Europe, etc.

    Second, there is a very simple reason why the rugby ref gets more “respect” than the soccer ref: the soccer ref is a strictly hands off ref; the less he has to do to interfere with the match, the better. Not so the rugby ref, who is constantly shouting instructions to the players all throughout the match: when to let go of the ball, what to do in the scrum, etc. The kind of constant interference in the run of play on the part of a ref is simply impossible in soccer.

    Put simply, the rugby ref has “respect” because he’s inside the heads of the players from start to finish, telling them how to play the game. He’s like their mother. You don’t disrespect your mom.

    Soccer refs are more like an older uncle who lets you live your own life and only steps in to intervene when absolutely necessary. Because of this he gets no respect – because he’s not your mom, who does he think he is trying to tell you what to do, etc?

    Apples and oranges.

  2. # Daveon 26 Nov 2008 at 1:13 am

    Wow. Was that your Howard Rogers impersonation?