Why has American style football failed to catch on in other countries?

I have no idea why it even caught on in the US. It’s my least favorite sport to watch and it’s painfully slow compared to “soccer”—or what the rest of the world calls football.

I think it is because it fits in with American corporate structure. In Rugby and Soccer/Football, the players make decisions in the moment; in US Football, it is all choreographed and managed, and as the game has evolved, the players make few decisions. It’s all management!

Because there already is a sport called football, which is far superior and traditionally a lot more popular, and american handegg is a ripoff of rugby, which is also far superior.

@zenvelo excellent point! What does that say about the US as a society? We fear having to make the hard decisions or that we fear having others make them?

@ragingloli I too wondered if there was a name confusion thing going on, or a reluctance to develop another major sport. Or was it something deeper?
And, while there is no question about where it was derived from, the real question is why? Did we think we could improve the game? Is it something a simple as because someone else came up with the idea and we could not stand the thought.

Because it’s rugby for pussies.

@ucme I would not argue the point. Tell us how you feel about Aussie Football?

Do they still have an American style football league in Europe?

Aussie rules is just bizarre, really weird, like it was made up by a bunch of drunk village idiots.
I’m sure the European gridiron league is still happening, but no one really cares, unless you wear an anorak, have sticky tape holding your spectacles together & like to point at pretty flowers.

@zenvelo the players make few decisions? Do you watch the game? Sure the plays are discussed beforehand, but the players do need to make decisions once the play is in action. It doesn’t always play out how the coaches hoped it would.

Because we have real football and it can be played anywhere, anytime as long as you have a ball.
Why do Americans not play handball?

Impossible to tell http://americanfootballtopics.blogspot.com/2009/08/american-football-in-other-countries.html

Funniest thing about your football is when they throw a little yellow flag on the field, I believe it’s meant to signal some illegality on a particular play.
In our (proper) football, silly men just wave their little flags in the air, so cute.

@woodcutter thanks, evidently there is some interest. Although I noted that the last Russian update was in 2001 and it had to do with a Pop Warner game but the other seem to have teams that are extant.

Let’s hear it for the Manchester Titans, the Birmingham Bulls and the Walney Terriers!

@jonsblond is right.

@jonsblond A player gets lauded for making an audible only if it works out. If it doesn’t they’ll be castigated and possibly sat down for not following the coach.

@zenvelo . . . If we simply want to call it choreographed then what’s the problem? Ballet is choreographed and athletic. Musicals are choreographed and athletic. Politics are choreographed and athletic. They are all things that I enjoy watching for entertainment.

Soccer was first everywhere else. That’s why it is American football and caught on so well here in North America. If it’s just a few dictated moves that you have to perform every down, well, perhaps you should throw your hat in the ring, suit up, and show us all how to do it.

After all it’s only choreography.

Because they’re all covered up and you can’t see if they’re hot or not- it’s slow, and we don’t understand it. Aussie rules you can see everything right then and there.

@Blondesjon and @jonsblond well, maybe it’s because you are Green Bay fans, After last Sunday your bell’s been rung a bit. I’ve only been a 49er fan since the John Brodie days, when he’d smoke a cigarette while the defense was on the field.

@zenvelo . . . I am a Packers fan and Sunday’s game was definitely some throwback, smashmouth football sans cigarettes. I go back to the Lynn Dickey days and can proudly say I am no Cheesehead. I was a fan well before that stupid shit got started.

for the record @jonsblond is a die hard broncos fan and still won’t let me forget xxxii

@Blondesjon You’ve got that right. Oh btw, another record was broke from Thursday’s game. Peyton Manning earned his NFL-record 24th conference player of the week award. Take that. :P

Its brutality and the constant interruptions ending up in piles of men.

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.

i think it reminds europeans of how we vulgar, violent, ugly americans have had to save their asses in the past

I laughed so hard at @mattbrowne‘s post, a small tear of joy trickled down my cheek.

@Blondesjon
Typical yank delusions. The Soviets defeated the Nazis. You only bothered to show up once the outcome of the war was already decided.

In Australia I learned about the popularity of footy, which seems slightly less brutal, but still boring for the untrained eye, compared to the elegance of high-quality soccer. People will tell you that you need to watch more than 100 games to begin finding it interesting. Too many for me.

To be fair, it can be highly entertaining. I only ever watch the Superbowl & those games are fun, mainly due to the fact it doesn’t finish til two in the morning over here.
Going to bed drunk is always an interesting experience.
It was @mattbrowne‘s wording that had me laughing, “piles of men” set of my chuckle button that’s all.

@ucme – I guess without alcohol it’s much harder to endure an entire game, pile after pile after pile ;-)

And how would you describe a picture like this one? Men being intimate with each other?

http://sigroup.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/chargers-pile-on-the-chargers-103111.jpg

Well, one of the official name is IPCASM. Intimate Physical Contact among Sweaty Men.

Erm, form an orderly line to fuck the prom queen?