Dave’s Football Blog

For the first week of this new blog format, we’ll take a look at the six most popular football games on the planet, in no particular order but the one I choose, and give a brief overview of where they come from and where they might be going.

I’ll be honest with you. Rugby is probably my least favorite form of football to watch.

Perhaps it’s because I don’t get all the nuances and subtleties of a good rugby match. Perhaps it’s because I grew up with American football, and when I watch rugby, I start thinking that guys like Walter Camp and John Heisman had the right idea.

Of course, what Americans like me might think is largely irrelevant here, as rugby is arguably the second most popular football code on the planet. It plays second fiddle to soccer in Europe, but it still has a strong following there, not to mention a huge fan base in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. National teams compete in Six Nations and Tri-Nations competitions every year, and there’s even a Rugby World Cup coming up in September, though I doubt ESPN will pimp that as much as they did the FIFA World Cup last summer.

So how did rugby manage to separate itself from the Football Association? Well, if you believe the legend, it starts with a brat named William Webb Ellis…

(More after the jump.)

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For the first week of this new blog format, we’ll take a look at the six most popular football games on the planet, in no particular order but the one I choose, and give a brief overview of where they come from and where they might be going.

I have a confession to make.

Not too long ago, I used to believe that Association Football — or “soccer,” as the American kids like to call it — was evil. I even wrote as much on this very blog. I had always looked beyond the game itself, choosing to tie it directly to all the violence and hooliganism that happened around it. Those nutters in Italy and France could have given me more ammo for that viewpoint in the last few months, too.

The truth, though, is that I’ve been horribly biased for a very long time, and it’s time I came to terms with that bias. You see, I took a corner kick in the crotch when I was 13.

(More after the jump.)

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