text: y the hell do european guys play rugby? u have no pads in the crazy sport! and dont say that football guys aren't real men because they wear pads. fyi, americans play rugby too - i did in college and a men's league afterwards. football (not soccer) and rugby are just different. any rugger who makes comments about football hasn't played. football style tackles (leaving your feet, not wrapping) are illegal in rugby; the goal in rugby to gain yards, it's to retain possession, so tacklers are less concerned with stopping someone in their tracks. because of that, the impacts have nowhere near the violence of football. it's not uncommon for football players to come out to play, and break jawbones, orbital bones, etc, because football style tackling has no place without helmets. don't have the misconception that rugby players do what football players do without pads. think more wrestling, at speed, with a ball.  that said, rugby has a huge advantage over football, probably the reason most people play, and that's attitude. i have yet to see a football game after which the teams pulled a keg on the field and drank with each other. show me a football team that would take a visiting team out drinking. being a rugby player is being in a fraternity, to the extent that we would find jobs and housing for aussies or kiwis who wanted to come to the us to play.