World Cup Final

[Purple]

Really?
We had rugby players faking blood injuries to gain an advantage, and then examples like the targeting of Brian O'Driscoll in a spear tackle.

Yes, disgraceful behaviour. I lost all respect for New Zealand as a sporting nation due to their reaction to the potentially life changing assault on O'Driscoll during that Loins game.

It is not silly to suggest the skill levels in soccer are higher. Given the number of people playing soccer versus rugby, reasonable to expect skills levels to be higher as a factor of that - all things being equal.

I was responding to a comment that suggested that Soccer by it's nature required a higher skill level.

Plus rugby is a more physical game than soccer. Someone in Sexton's position maybe not, but across the positions, seems like a sound proposition to me.

Yes, it is a more physical game but that doesn't mean it requires less skill.

 

[odyssey06]

Yes, disgraceful behaviour. I lost all respect for New Zealand as a sporting nation due to their reaction to the potentially life changing assault on O'Driscoll during that Loins game.

I was responding to a comment that suggested that Soccer by it's nature required a higher skill level.

Yes, it is a more physical game but that doesn't mean it requires less skill.

If it is a more physical game, then players are going to progress \ be chosen more on the basis of physical attributes than skill, so this means less skill is required.

 

[Purple]

If it is a more physical game, then players are going to progress \ be chosen more on the basis of physical attributes than skill, so this means less skill is required.

So on that basis Darts, being a less physical game, is more skilful than Soccer?

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

Usain Bolt vs Ronnie O'Sullivan, skill?

 

[joer]

Soccer is or was a very skillful game . It has been ruined when you see the , so called, world's best , diving , waving imaginary cards at referee's, surrounding the referee's, whinging at every decision that has been made .
Most of the discussions on Match of the Day now is about the VAR problems more so than on the actual game.....
But still we , or at least I, watch it every week.

 

[Purple]

Soccer is or was a very skillful game . It has been ruined when you see the , so called, world's best , diving , waving imaginary cards at referee's, surrounding the referee's, whinging at every decision that has been made .
Most of the discussions on Match of the Day now is about the VAR problems more so than on the actual game.....
But still we , or at least I, watch it every week.

It's a very skilful game and, I think, more skilful now that the pitches are so much better and fouling less tolerated. I just don't get the notion that the less physical a game is the more skilful it must be.

I don't think that, for example, the skillset required to play Lawn Bowls is of a relatively higher level than Gymnastics. I agree that being big and naturally athletic is an advantage in most sports, from Snooker to Basketball to Soccer to Rugby but I don't think the more physical they are the lower the required skillset is.

 

[odyssey06]

So on that basis Darts, being a less physical game, is more skilful than Soccer?

We're comparing ball based field sports with ball based field sports. You can even see the difference within soccer over the past 30 years as back passes, tackling from behind banned that the skill demands on goalkeepers and defenders has increased.
Across the range of positions in soccer versus rugby, more skill is involved.

 

[joer]

It is very hard to compare different sports to be fair. Every sport has its own skill.
Even tiddlywinks has its own skill , I reckon.. so it's hard to compare Rugby to Soccer, to Hurling of Football or Darts etc. It's what people want to look at the most because to them that's the 'best '
Sport. I enjoyed the Rugby Final just as much as the All Ireland Hurling final ...both different skill sets and no comparison to each other.
When I had Sky Sports I used to watch Cricket and Golf ....once again two completely different sports...but I enjoyed each of them and their own different skills.....

 

[Purple]

We're comparing ball based field sports with ball based field sports.

Okay ball based field sports, so Hockey is a less physical game than Hurling so it must be a more skilful game.

You can even see the difference within soccer over the past 30 years as back passes, tackling from behind banned that the skill demands on goalkeepers and defenders has increased.
Across the range of positions in soccer versus rugby, more skill is involved.

And the banning of high tackles and changes to scrum laws, 50:22's, and dozens of other laws have changed Rugby as well. It's a nonsense to say one requires more skill than the other. Every sport has seen a big increase in skills over the last 30 years. Just look at how GAA has changed.