[Football] Favourite football code (excluding association)

[Simster]

What's your favourite other football code? I'm excluding proper football as it would undoubtedly win even if a handful of people on here consider it their 2nd or 3rd choice.

Personally I've learned to like all of them over time. Didn't used to like American football and considered Aussie Rules a bit of a joke, but now I'd say Aussie Rules was the second most watchable (and probably playable) of the lot.

Rugby suffers from its own self inflicted divergence. Union has an interesting tactical side and a global stage, but if you want fast and slick ball handling then actually League is a better watch IMO.

 

[Titanic]

Not you as well! Surely the drivel from POSKETT AT THE VALLEY is enough??

Other: Futsal

 

[Normal Rob]

I expect Rugby Union to win this, with American Space Rugby 2nd...

 

[Simster]

Not you as well! Surely the drivel from POSKETT AT THE VALLEY is enough??

Other: Futsal

Tomorrow I'll be asking if twiglets should be banned for being vile, unless he beats me to it.

 

[Titanic]

Tomorrow I'll be asking if twiglets should be banned for being vile, unless he beats me to it.

The answer is NO... they are a delicious treat!

 

[Brovion]

American football. Prefer it to all other codes and it's the only one I can watch when I have zero interest in the result (i.e. I'm a complete neutral and I don't care who wins), and I still enjoy it even if it's a bad game.

For all the other codes I have to have a 'dog in the fight' before I can watch the matches.

EDIT: Also for me the matches matter more than the sport. For example I'd much rather watch the England womens' Rugby team play a world cup match than watch the England mens' soccer team play a friendly.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I’ve seen worse threads in international breaks TBF.

The answer for me is NFL. I’ve been in love with it since it was on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings. My team, the Bears have been terrible for years but in my first season they had a squad full of characters; Jim McMahon, Walter Payton and one called The Fridge. I like how it’s a fairly simple game but with very nuanced tactics. I just wish it wasn’t called football, when the only time you kick it is when you’ve failed.

AFL is also great fun. Regularly watched the Swannies at the SCG when I lived in Sydney.

I have a love / hate relationship with Union. At its best it’s probably the most brutal sport on the planet (see Ireland v South Africa). At worst it really is just posh fat blokes sticking their heads up each other’s backsides. I’d rather be in a pub full of Millwall’s firm than a University rugby club. And I hate how it’s held up as a better example to football. The rules are nebulous and inconsistent and red cards can apparently be changed three times by committee.

League is the most boring sport on earth. I’d rather sit through a whole day of women’s golf than ten minutes of League.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Aussie Rules all day long

 

[Simster]

I’ve seen worse threads in international breaks TBF.

The answer for me is NFL. I’ve been in love with it since it was on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings. My team, the Bears have been terrible for years but in my first season they had a squad full of characters; Jim McMahon, Walter Payton and a one called The Fridge. I like how it’s a fairly simple game but with very nuanced tactics. I just wish it wasn’t called football, when the only time you kick it is when you’ve failed.

AFL is also great fun. Regularly watched the Swannies at the SCG when I lived in Sydney.

I have a love / hate relationship with Union. At its best it’s probably the most brutal sport on the planet (see Ireland v South Africa). At worst it really is just posh fat blokes sticking their heads up each other’s backsides. I’d rather be in a pub full of Millwall’s firm than a University rugby club. And I hate how it’s held up as a better example to football. The rules are nebulous and inconsistent and red cards can apparently be changed three times by committee.

League is the most boring sport on earth. I’d rather sit through a whole day of women’s golf than ten minutes of League.

I don't agree with a lot of this but regardless, it's a splendid post.

"My team, The Bears have been terrible for years". Do cock off - you were a ruddy GLORY HUNTER if you started following them in that era.

AFL is a fine game. I'm a Brisbane Lions fan, purely because they were borne out of the Fitzroy merger, and I was actually a member at that club along with my entire final year student house.

Your comment on Union is absolutely spot on. You can have epic games, but your comments about the uni rugby clubs and rules are bang on - and amusing.

What is poor is your comment on League. The fast, amazing ball handling is all in League. Plus the State of Origin games are incredible. Sadly it's literally only played in 2 Aussie states, the M62 corridor, a couple of pockets of southern France, an Auckland suburb and Papua New Guinea. They've done a shit job of taking the game elsewhere.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I don't agree with a lot of this but regardless, it's a splendid post.

"My team, The Bears have been terrible for years". Do cock off - you were a ruddy GLORY HUNTER if you started following them in that era.

AFL is a fine game. I'm a Brisbane Lions fan, purely because they were borne out of the Fitzroy merger, and I was actually a member at that club along with my entire final year student house.

Your comment on Union is absolutely spot on. You can have epic games, but your comments about the uni rugby clubs and rules are bang on - and amusing.

What is poor is your comment on League. The fast, amazing ball handling is all in League. Plus the State of Origin games are incredible. Sadly it's literally only played in 2 Aussie states, the M62 corridor, a couple of pockets of southern France, an Auckland suburb and Papua New Guinea. They've done a shit job of taking the game elsewhere.

Oh 100% glory hunting but I really like that the draft system means you often end up sticking with a team that gets progressively worse

 

[Simster]

No love for the foreign code on our doorstep then?

 

[Chicken Run]

Tomorrow I'll be asking if twiglets should be banned for being vile, unless he beats me to it.

And pretzel crisps too

 

[Jaxie]

Rugby League

 

[Badger]

Rugby Union ahead of Aussie Rules.

Rugby League is wank.

I've tried to like NFL but I just can't watch it. The Americans have managed to ruin what should be a decent sport. 10 seconds of action followed by 8 minutes of ad breaks, standing around discussing the next play and changing half the team.

I've never really watched Gaelic football, so I don't have an opinion on it.

 

[jamie-oh]

AFL is the one for me, its a magnificent sport. Televised, live, highlights, whole shebang, bloody love it. Anyone who fancies dipping a toe in needs to wait until next March for the season to start again (the Grand Final was a couple of weeks ago) but pick a team through whichever method doesnt make you a Collingwood fan, and get aboard! the thread on here is a good old read too, its all quite positive and nice and non-abusive, too!

 

[MattBackHome]

AFL with Gaelic very close behind.

For me, the 'freer' the rules, and the less restrictive the code, the better.

 

[MJsGhost]

Rugby Union ahead of Aussie Rules.

Rugby League is wank.

I've tried to like NFL but I just can't watch it. The Americans have managed to ruin what should be a decent sport. 10 seconds of action followed by 8 minutes of ad breaks, standing around discussing the next play and changing half the team.

I've never really watched Gaelic football, so I don't have an opinion on it.

Exactly this, but I'll also add that I have found the average NFL fan to be a bit of a tw@t

I've done a good few superbowl nights over the years (any excuse for a good session), but have found most of the people actually interested in the game to be utterly dull or really annoying, or both. Most superbowl nights I've done were unofficial socials for an international company, so there were usually a few US colleagues knocking about. One year (maybe 15 years ago?) this included a Packers fan from St Louis who repeated the same joke throughout the night, so I still remember it to this day (What's the difference between Chicago bears fans and Marty Mcfly? At least Mcfly stops going back to 1985... Oh, how we laughed at the 30th time he drawled it)
Non-American NFL fans (in my experience) spend far too long trying to convince me that the only reason I don't like it as much as they do is that I don't understand the game well enough. OK mate.

Saying that, although I enjoy watching it at home or at a mate's house, I avoid watching Rugby Union in a pub because of all the braying Ruperts.

Maybe I just find most people annoying

 

[Simster]

Exactly this, but I'll also add that I have found the average NFL fan to be a bit of a tw@t

I've done a good few superbowl nights over the years (any excuse for a good session), but have found most of the people actually interested in the game to be utterly dull or really annoying, or both. Most superbowl nights I've done were unofficial socials for an international company, so there were usually a few US colleagues knocking about. One year (maybe 15 years ago?) this included a Packers fan from St Louis who repeated the same joke throughout the night, so I still remember it to this day (What's the difference between Chicago bears fans and Marty Mcfly? At least Mcfly stops going back to 1985... Oh, how we laughed at the 30th time he drawled it)
Non-American NFL fans (in my experience) spend far too long trying to convince me that the only reason I don't like it as much as they do is that I don't understand the game well enough. OK mate.

Saying that, although I enjoy watching it at home or at a mate's house, I avoid watching Rugby Union in a pub because of all the braying Ruperts.

Maybe I just find most people annoying

No, you're right about UK NFL fans. They're an odd mix of car bores (the type made famous by Harry Enfield) and incels that like to wear ill-fitting black t-shirts.

 

[Brovion]

No, you're right about UK NFL fans. They're an odd mix of car driving bores and incels that like ill-fitting black t-shirts.

Excuse me! I've got a wife!

 

[Simster]

Excuse me! I've got a wife!

The best thing I can say for you Brovian is that you probably watch the NFL on your own, so you've never actually noticed what most of you are like.