I think its all the 'touchy feel' myth more about Union than League.

If you mean homosexuals, then I guarantee that some players of both sports are. Though I can only think of Justin Fashanu, Ian Roberts and Gareth Thomas who've been willing to 'admit' it.

I find the weird rivalry between football and rugby (either code) supporters, on internet forums at least, bizarre. Post about football on rugby forum and it'll be denounced as "wendyball", pansy sport, etc - the usual insults that crop up here. Post about rugby on a football forum and it'll be denounced as egg chasing with players either gay*, fat, toothless, too untalented to play football, or whatever.



Yet you can seemingly post about other sports like boxing, darts, cricket, horseracing or whatever else takes your fancy on any forum and no one bats an eyelid. I don't get the football V rugby thing.



*I've not got a problem with gays myself like, but it seems to be a common insult in these instances.

That's because there is a large amount of jealousy held by the fans of each sport towards the other.



Rugby fans (and I include Union to some extent in this) would love the money thrown about in football to be present in our game, the media coverage, the globality & not parochiality of the game, and truth be told a greater recognition for the players on a physical side.



Football fans however would love to have their clubs in touch with local fans, to be able to stop a player & chat as he walks round the supermarket, to actually live with the players as friends & neighbours rather than untouchables in Wilmslow, to be able to speak the same language as the players & know that in a majority of cases they are there to play for the club & fans not just to trip over an obscene pay packet, and to have the respect for players and official usually demonstrated in both rugby codes while eliminating the cheating and diving that goes on in every match.



There is a large amount of looking over the fence at the other with a little bit of envy. Fans of each sport believe their's to be the greatest game. We all know in fact that rugby is the far superior game played by superior athletes & people and watched by superior fans...

Quite a few valid points there, and speaking as someone who regularly attends top flight matches in both sports I can see positives and negatives on both sides compared to the other - in terms of both the sports themselves, and the so called "match day experience".



Neither code of rugby is ever going to be as popular in this country as football, and that's just the way it is. Even in Warrington I would say there are more football fans than RL fans, it's just that because the town has no professional club of it's own, the football support is split while 90% of rugby fans support the same team. Obviously there are many people who like both sports.



The sames goes for other sports too though - cricket and boxing aren't as popular as football either, but there doesn't seem to be the same sense of rivalry between the sports.

I know where people are coming from, but lets face it, in Rugby you dont get the metrosexuals like Ronaldo, with his baby oil and suntan prancing round in his undies. Its a mans game.



If football wants to lose the soft, gay, wendy ball tag, then they need to man up!



I mean come on, the slightest touch of a boot, they do somersaults and roll around feigning injury and screaming. There was minimal contact, and theyre "hurt". If that happened in Rugby as often as football and to the extent it is,they wouldnt be seen on the pitch again, theyd be too ashamed!!



I know one or two players, Lee Briers being one, has feigned injury, but nowhere near the extent that some of them wendyball tarts do.



Iv helped out the local pub football team too, played at centre half, and put the shoulder on someone when challenging for the ball, rather than challenge back, he went down like a sack of spuds trying to get a free kick feigning injury, and it wernt that much of a shoulder barge. Absolutely pathetic, and i told him so too. Cue the plastic scouse Widnes accent weasel trying to kick off with me and then avoiding me all game. Poof!



Rant over!

I stand corrected. He had a Bang Tidy mrs though.

Would I be correct to assume you play in nets and want to scrum down near the hooker, or have I read it wrong

anyway the frankie boyle book's funny!

i laughed all the way through it... have you read frank skinners?



thats absolute class... if you like laughing all the way through a book read this one.







1p on amazon

I dont have a issue with either sport.I can easliy watch a game of football at any level,and enjoy it.Same goes for rugby and thats both codes.I enjoyed watching the tests game yesterday.What gets my back in football and rugby is some of the supporters.You can have decent conversation with some but each team will have some total tools.Who cant see anything but their own team.And that does go for Wire fans as well.The worst set of fans in football for me are Man Utd and in rugby it has to be Wigan.

i never understand this, a person could be 'a really big united fan', but they only go to the occasonal match but follow them on the television. If this same person said 'i'm a really big wires fan' and then went on to say they only went the occasional match they would be called an armchair supporter.



i dont like football though

I'm not "a really big United fan". In fact I hate them. However, as irony would have it I now find myself living less than half an hour's walk from their ground meaning, funnily enough, I do know a few "really big United fans" and they would most definitely regard the people you describe as armchair supporters and not "really big United fans" at all.



One mitigating circumstance mind, is that it's far easier to be priced out of supporting your team in football than it is in rugby. That doesn't mean the passion within you dries up just because your bank balance does though.