[Artie Fufkin]

During a recent disscussion with a friend, the subject came up regarding upper class rugger-types and scummy footballers.

My friend insisted that those days were long gone and rugby [as a participating or spectator sport]was now for everyone, regardless of class or wealth and that football has come out of the slums and is played and enjoyed by toffs too. He stated that there is absolutely no difference in the type of person who plays and/or watches rugby and those who play/watch football.

I think he has a point that there has been a gradual change in the last generation or two. But I don't believe that it is anywhere near the level which says it is - rugby is generallyfor people who are more well-to-do than footballers. Am I wrong?

[KevD]

Originally Posted by kherm

Am I wrong?

Yes

[Badger0-0]

Rugby league was started by us rough northern types.
Union is full of posh twits

Footy was started by us rough northern types.
And is in danger of being taken over by posh twits from London

(Dons flak jacket)

[Spacecat]

Football is a classy game played with skill and pace


Rugby is like watching cattle chase a deformed football

[Steven]

Originally Posted by Badger0-0

Rugby league was started by us rough northern types.
Union is full of posh twits

Footy was started by us rough northern types.
And is in danger of being taken over by posh twits from London

(Dons flak jacket)

True

[ash]

Mmm...

Don't take it too seriously but I find that many ethnic minorities are not into rugby, but more into football. But I don't blame them, football is better.

As for "classes", I think that divide is long gone, esp. when we see out Princes watch and participate in both sports.

[Ian J]

Rugby is a classy game played with skill and pace


Football is like watching cattle chase a deformed rugby ball

[Spacecat]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Rugby is a classy game played with skill and pace


Football is like watching cattle chase a deformed rugby ball

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

[overkill]

Rugby Union is still pretty much a 'oh do come on the quinn's' game. Went to see Wasps play a few years back, and nothing had changed. The 'clientèle', sorry 'fans', where much the same middle and upper class lot of the 70's when I last went.

Rugby Leauge, is, and always was a Northern working mans game. I haven't been for years, but I doubt the crowd at Bradford is any different now to when I went last (1988). I went to Warrington a few years back, and they were a 'bit posh' (for RL), but then Warrington is a pretty posh town. Well, most of it.........

Football has never been an exclusively working class game. Hence it's much wider appeal. It's core terrace support, which until the 70's were by far the largest part of any ground, were solidly working class, but the stands were normally 'for the toff's. These have always had higher prices, hence they put off the working classes, and been areas for season ticket holders, who in days of yore, could only be people earning a decent wage.

I enjoy all three codes. But football is my biggest interest. I would have said 'enjoyed the most', but I'm decreasingly sure of that.

[DJT75]

Originally Posted by overkill

I enjoy all three codes. But football is my biggest interest..

Oh Oh Oh...

Originally Posted by overkill

I would have said 'enjoyed the most', but I'm decreasingly sure of that.

So close!

[overkill]

Originally Posted by DJT75

Oh Oh Oh... So close!

Hey, you have to be consistent!

[WelshBluebird]

I disagree with you.
Rugby is still the biggest sport in Wales (and in the Rhondda) depsite the area being mainly working class. Also, with football tickets still increasing in price, it seams to me Football is turning into a sport for the upper classes, as working class people are being priced out.

[overkill]

Originally Posted by WelshBluebird

I disagree with you.
Rugby is still the biggest sport in Wales (and in the Rhondda) depsite the area being mainly working class. Also, with football tickets still increasing in price, it seams to me Football is turning into a sport for the upper classes, as working class people are being priced out.

RU in Wales is a different species to RU in England or Scotland. It's the national game, and as such appeals across class. On the football, the upper classes aren't interested in football. The upper middle yes, and that's where football main support is heading with it's bizzare wages and ever increasing gate prices.

[Spacecat]

Originally Posted by WelshBluebird

I, it seams to me Football is turning into a sport for the upper classes, as working class people are being priced out.

People always think working class people dont have any money, when in fact loads of people you would call working class : tradesmen, mechanics, Black cab drivers etc earn LOADS!

[Badger0-0]

I can do a grand a week, net, no problem, as a tradesman
But need to do about 70 hours a week

No time for watching sport, if you're working those hours

I wake up thinking "I wish I could go to sleep"

[RMCF]

I think either class can be interested in either sport, but I have been at many football games and only a few RU games, and from what I saw there tends to be a difference in the type of fan, with exceptions of course.

Rugby fans tend to be more 'well to do', if you know what I mean. Probably all stems back to rugby being played at classier schools. In Ireland, for example, rugby was not a big thing in many schools, with soccer and Gaelic football being the main sports. These were pushed and the school would have put effort into winning trophies in these. Rugby was played, but few boys were into it.

It was more popular in certain colleges though. Ones that had a history of playing it. Top colleges with great reputations would have quite often have had a rugby tradition, so obviously when these people grow up they have more fondness for rugby, and less for soccer although they would probably still follow it.

As a result a greater proportion of pupils from the 'well to do' schools get better jobs (likes of solicitor, accountant, doctor, surgeon, dentist etc) and this gives the type of fan at RU games in the future.

This is perhaps over-simplified as there are always exceptions to rules. I remember being in Edinburgh for Scotland v Ireland Six Nations and loads of the Scots fans there would not be classed as 'high brow', but incredibly passionate about their RU, the way football fans are normally expected to be.

[GBDG1]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Rugby is a classy game played with skill and pace


Football is like watching cattle chase a deformed rugby ball

Maybe true, but at least in football the game doesn't have designated "molesting huddles" or whatever they are called.

Not to say the majority of profesional footballers wouldn't enjoy feeling each other up, it's just that it is kept to the showers rather than being broadcast.

[The Dude]

''hey......save some for us..! ''

[JohnG]

I detest rugby because I was forced to play it at school ! Silly I know, but I really did hate it and if I'd have failed my 11+ exam I would have gone to a school where they played football. We were a Grammar school and so we had to play rugby

[dazzafact]

You can always tell a posh rugby fan by way of his collar is always turned up!

[overkill]

Originally Posted by Spacecat

People always think working class people dont have any money, when in fact loads of people you would call working class : tradesmen, mechanics, Black cab drivers etc earn LOADS!

Depends where in the country you live. I know cabbies in London who earn a decent pile, but they don't have the spare cash to go throwing at season tickets for Football. At the same time, in this part of the World, the local fans have been increasingly frozen out of Anfield over the last decade, and even at Goodisan, where the club have tried hard to keep costs down, the local fanbase has shrunk dramatically in recent years. When the only Liverpool fans I know who can afford to go every week are a Solicitor, a Financial adviser for a major bank, and an IT worker for the Navy, it shows you how costs have pushed out the average scouse. In the NW wages are well below the National average, and although, house prices and the cost of living is lower, it still means finding £500-1,000 a year for a football ST is hardly high on the list of priorities - and that for fans who are pretty fanatical too.

[Dony]

Originally Posted by Spacecat

People always think working class people dont have any money, when in fact loads of people you would call working class : tradesmen, mechanics, Black cab drivers etc earn LOADS!

Earning money is the easy bit, knowing how to keep it and use it wisely is vastly different!!!

[overkill]

Originally Posted by Dony

Earning money is the easy bit, knowing how to keep it and use it wisely is vastly different!!!

Ain't that a fact!

[RMCF]

Well thankfully my local team here in Ireland have a season ticket price of £150.

But I suppose that you have to remember I also give Sky TV over £500 per year for their service, which I pay primarily to watch football.

I bet there's no chance of them reducing their season ticket prices !!!

[Geofbob]

Surprised nobody's yet quoted this old definition of the 3 codes:

Soccer[as it used to be called even in the UK]: A game for gentlemen played by hooligans;
Rugby Union: A game for hooligans played by gentlemen;
Rugby League: A game for hooligans played by hooligans!