Quote:
Originally posted by Scholarcs:
Just a question, but why do americans wear helmets and armour when they play american football...is it because they cannot handle being tackled?? [img]tongue.gif[/img]
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Well, I've played both American football and rugby, and I've picked up more injuries playing gridiron than rugby, even though in rugby you can only wear soft-shell pads. Reasons:
1. In American football you can get hit from anywhere, when you least expect it, and there are no restrictions on types of tackles. You can get hit even when you don't have the ball, when blockers hit you. If you don't have time to brace for the impact of a tackle because it's coming from out of nowhere, I guarantee that your propensity to get injured will be FAR higher than if you ended up on the bottom of a ruck in rugby and get treated as part of the ground by the opposing team.
2. The helmets, pads, etc which protect players from serious injury sustained in reason 1 above can actually CONTRIBUTE to serious injuries in themselves. Imagine making a break down the sideline and getting tackled full tilt around the thighs by someone wearing a helmet which smashes into your patella (kneecap). It ain't pleasant.
