da betsul： The Rugby World Cup is well underway and although we’re obviously obsessed with the beautiful game here at Football Fancast, we’ve certainly got some time for it’s oblong cousin too.
da esport bet： And no doubt, the tournament in England has already produced some rather incredible moments, not least including Japan’s historic victor over 2007 winners South Africa courtesy of a last-minute try and Wales’ stunning comeback against England last Saturday night despite a plethora of their key players being stretchered off.
In fact, we’ve been so impressed with the rugby here at Football FanCast Towers that we’ve started to consider what football could learn from the world of egg-chasing. We aren’t suggesting a change in shape of the ball just yet, but we have come up with FIVE things the beautiful game should adopt from Rugby.
Would the beautiful game benefit by copying these practices from the world of Rugby? Let us know by commenting below!
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.
RESPECT FOR OFFICIALS
The players may spend 80 minutes wrestling each other into bubbling pools of mud and occasionally instigating ad hoc boxing matches, but respect for referees is ingrained into rugby’s DNA.
Indeed, the referee’s word is final in the world of egg-chasing, indisputable and essentially gospel. They command respect and any hint that it’s not being given will quickly result in a penalty. If a penalty is already awarded, it’s moved ten yards up the pitch.
Compare that to football, where influencing referees has become part of its culture from the terraces to the touchline and even on the pitch itself. One wrongly awarded throw-in leads to chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ from the stands, whilst officials have become the go-to scapegoat for managers after practically every underwhelming result.
There’s been an improvement from players in recent years but it’s still common practice to see almost entire teams, including the goalkeeper, surrounding referees to pressure a certain decision out of them them.
Rugga ref Nigel Owens, one of the sport’s most renowned officials, recently claimed that he’d love to referee a Premier League game but ‘they’d be down to five-a-side before half-time’, which sums up the monolithic difference in the way football treats it’s officials.
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.
VIDEO TECHNOLOGY
The use of video technology seems to be a never-ending debate in the world of football, in no small part due to the fact sports like Rugby adopted it some time ago.
Every major decision in Rugby is replayed time and again and swept over with a fine toothcomb, ensuring as few mistakes from the officials as technology will allow and that impartial justice always prevails.
Football, in comparison, is still stuck in the dark ages. Only since 2013 has goal-line technology been used in the Premier League and much of UEFA still oppose it.
Manchester City’s recent Champions League win over Borussia Monchengladbach saw a Martin Demichelis header travel a yard over the line, but somehow the 5th official didn’t award the goal. Absolutely criminal.
There’s certainly some substance to the argument that calling upon video replays will slow the pace and intensity of the beautiful game, which is why it’s such a popular sport worldwide.
Yet a weekend doesn’t pass in the Premier League without at least one controversial decision deciding a match. If we ever want a sport where ability is always the ultimate decider of success, we need to adopt video technology.
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.
MANNING UP
Rugby is sport of 30 men continuously inflicting pain on each other and pretending it doesn’t hurt. Football, on the other hand, is a sport of 22 prima-donnas who collapse to the floor like they’ve just been shot the moment someone brushes their little finger.
Diving and simulation is so rare in Rugby that they don’t even have any official rules for it – it simply falls under the parameter of ‘ungentlemanly conduct’.
In the theatrical world of the Premier League, meanwhile, players will throw their bodies to the ground at any opportunity, in the hope of a free kick, penalty or most unsportingly of all a red card.
The FA are attempting to tighten up on simulation; any player caught feigning injury to deliberately deceive referees can now receive a retrospective three-match ban.
But cheeky dives to win free kicks, especially from defenders, are still common practice. Likewise, the amount of times players end up rolling around on the floor holding their face after a shoving match – considering the vast majority of them measure in at over 6 foot and are in top physical condition – is hilariously farcical. Overall, football seriously needs to man up.
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.
CROWD BEHAVIOUR
Fortunately, football seems to be gravitating further away from the dark hooligan era of the 1970s and 1980s with every passing year. But there’s no question it still lays beneath the surface of the beautiful game; the recent derby between Aston Villa and Birmingham City in the Capital One Cup saw 28 people arrested alone.
I’m sure there’s the odd ruckus at rugby matches too, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to the spectator violence motivated by football throughout the last half century. Opposing fans even share the same stands in the world of egg-chasing from time to time – imagine the chaos that would cause at a football match!
Football is certainly improving in this respect as it becomes a more corporate and family-orientated franchise. But for a wide variety of socio-economic and cultural reasons, there will unfortunately always be a few idiots ruining it for the rest of us.
Rugby fans, meanwhile, seem to be able to leave their differences on the pitch. It’s the reason football supporters aren’t allowed to drink in the stands but their rugga counterparts are.
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.
IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL GAMES
There is no greater honour in rugby than representing your national side. In a similar vein to cricket, the domestic game is centred around accommodating and improving the international scene as much as possible, which is the true platform for the world’s elite players.
In football, however, club is increasingly taking precedent over country. Players seemingly feel no shame in ruling themselves out of international fixtures through injury only to be fully fit for Premier League action next weekend, whilst many give the allure that representing their country is as much a burden as it is a duty.
There’s perhaps a different mindset when it comes to the World Cup or European Championships, but during international breaks you get the feeling many players, especially those representing England, would rather not be there.
Rugby players, on the other hand, are always proud and patriotic. Perhaps because caps aren’t simply dished out to anybody showing a few games of decent form, perhaps because they’re not always facing minuscule opposition like San Marino and Andorra.
Whilst the Rugby World Cup remains the pinnacle of the sport, many would argue the Champions League now trumps international football in terms of importance.
Keep up with all the action from the 2015 Rugby World Cup with Rugby Right Now. Rugby Right Now brings all of rugby’s latest news, expert views and team and player social media platforms all together at the touch of your fingertips. Available to download now in the App Store on iOS or visit online at www.rugbyrightnow.com.