Rugby is very similar to American football or Grid Iron, players have often transferred over....but Rugby is play without helmets or any other saftey guard and can get very violent.
Hah! There are waaaaay more differences between rugby and
foolball than there are similarities.
Similarities:
the basic shape of the ball,
the "touch"(rugby) and "touchdown"(
foolball). [Um, in rugby one actually has to touch the ball down on the ground, whereas in
foolball one only has to cross the touch line.] Go figger,
the footgear,
and the boot over the bar.
Differences:
the specific shape of the ball,
no padding in rugby (except for the nutcup and some players wear ear protectors and teethguards),
rules are different,
scoring is different,
rugby players don't stop every few seconds to figure out what they're going to do next,
rugby has a halftime and that's it,
rugby is a team sport such that the game doesn't hinge on 2 or 3 players (the quarterback and a couple receivers),
in rugby there is no forward passing,
in rugby the game doesn't stop because some player got a scratch or a bloody beak and the play continues,
penalties are such that causing a death in an infraction is punishable by ejection fromnm the game, causing serious injury in an infraction uis punishable by a couple minutes off the field, and blood letting is ignored,
rugby players just play and don't have to learn a big pile of fancy manouvers,
etc.
etc.
etc.
After a few years of rugby, I tried playing
foolball in a school where they didn't have a rugby team and found it excruciatingly tedious.