Two different rules, two different balls, two different sports; At first glance, rugby and American football seem to have very little in common, but in reality they have a lot in common. Many of the fans who profess allegiance to one sport seem to condescend and denigrate the other. Maybe it's because they are so similar that it's easy to declare one is better than another. For example, you wouldn't say that basketball has a more efficient scoring system than baseball or vice versa, not because they are the same but because they are two different and incomparable sports. But on the other hand two very similar things like Coca-Cola and Pepsi are in constant competition. If you were to compare rugby and American football, the things you would look at would be the history of the sports, the rules of the games and the fans' comments on each other. The history of rugby has somewhat strange origins but a true story. A young footballer, while he was playing, took the ball and ran with it towards the opponent's goal. This seemingly youthful act gave birth to one of the most popular sports in the world; Rugby (Potter). Sport has had great success especially among university youth. And only ten years after the official birth of football, Rugby had its own organisation: the Rugby Union. Rugby then took off as an international success. He went to many places like Australia, New Zealand, Africa, France and even America. Rugby players to this day are not paid as much as other sports and most still have “day jobs”, as “lawyers, doctors and advertising executives” (Potter). American football has its roots deeply in rugby. Football initially began as a variant of British rugby. When it first arrived in America... middle of the paper... demonstrated why the two sports were beginning to gain traction in each other's origins. The American rugby team is becoming more and more popular and NFL Europe is also receiving a lot of publicity. So instead of simply latching on to other people's sports, fans should tune in to watch the sport they hate so much and maybe even like it. Works cited "Rugby, game". Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition (2010): 1. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Network. March 31, 2011.Potter, Matt. "A gentleman's game." In Britain 9.10 (1999): 54. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Network. March 31, 2011.Madden, John. Football Heroes The history of the American game. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2006. Print."Soccer." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition (2010): 1. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Network. March 31, 2011. Diffen. March 28, 2011. Web. March 31 2011.