UK scouts want to try American Football

[King Ding Dong 540]

Mr. Butler would let them play football on their smartphones.

[qwazse 4345]

Mr. Butler would let them play football on their smartphones.

All the better to help a receiver find the end zone on a foggy morning!

[tonkatim 26]

Just to bring this post back(yeah, I am a party pooper.) The point of a Gridiron tackle is to smash into your opponent to stop all forward motion and the point of a Rugby tackle is to twist your opponent around so that the ball is presented to your team when the tackled player must let go of the ball. (in a nutshell) Skip, I am interested in what your Ruggers think and I congratulate you in your balancing Scouting with sports. My Scout Master never let disappointment show when I went missing for 4-5 months at a time and I always felt welcomed back.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

Tonkatim - we're always keen to try something new! We have in the past lost a few kids to sport as they get older and don't have as much free time and are forced to chose as school work mounts up. This time last year we had a set of twins, one chose scouts the other chose cricket. Just the way it is some times.

 

As you say, it will be interesting to see what the rugby players make of it. I've always meant to get round to reading up on the history of the two games, they have so many similarities that I would be amazed if they didn't have some kind of common roots.

[Peregrinator 85]

FWIW, when Canadian football adopted gridiron football rules, the umbrella organization was still known as the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), I guess out of tradition. Gridiron seems to have developed out of rugby football but there were a lot of innovations (of which the forward pass is probably the biggest).

 

The point of a Gridiron tackle is to smash into your opponent to stop all forward motion and the point of a Rugby tackle is to twist your opponent around so that the ball is presented to your team when the tackled player must let go of the ball. (in a nutshell)

 

Surely equipment has something to do with those differences too ... in rugby you keep your head up, in gridiron players tend not to but if they weren't wearing helmets....

[Cambridgeskip 658]

So tonight was game day as it were ......

 

All went very well indeed. I learned a lot about the game, nearly as much as the scouts did. By watching it being played by small teams (we played 7 a side) it helped show what some of the basic tactics were.

 

Brief write up (and some piccies) on our website here

[tonkatim 26]

Looks like your group had a lot of fun. Have you received the cease and desist letter from the NFL for using the "Super"? It will come -sooner of later. Frame it and hang it in your Scout Hut. (I am very jealous). They are very protective of that word. What did you think about the Helmet? I was looking at your lay out. Is that whole building yours to use? And the field outside? I did notice the Rugby Pitch around the corner. Great stuff, thanks for the posting.

 

[Cambridgeskip 658]

Would the NFL really be that precious about something clearly so tongue in cheek? Strange people! I might change the wording if they are likely to be twitchy about it. I didn't get to try the helmet on myself as it didn't fit (I have an enormous head, seriously, when I was a scout and went on a climbing trip they had to buy a helmet specially for me!) but I was fascinated by the pads. I hadn't appreciated how far down the torso they come. As for the set up.... The building you can see in the photos is not ours. We do have our own building but it is next to a school. The building you can see is that school! They allow us to use their playing field for free for pretty much anything except for lighting fires which is rather nice of them and we generally have a very good relationship with them. Our building meanwhile has seen better days and needs some serious refurbishment including a new roof (likely to cost around £70k, so serious money) and new toilets.

[tonkatim 26]

I was joking... kind of. I know that all of the major sporting events do the same and the commercials surrounding the event have made hay by skirting the exact wording of the event and also using double entendre. It does cost a fortune to purchase the rights to use the events exact name. BSA would do the same if I came out with "tonkatim's Philmont proof hiking boots."

[Cambridgeskip 658]

I was joking... "

 

Ah I see..... So American's do have a sense of humour

 

[Fehler 118]

No, but we do have a sense of humor.

[tonkatim 26]

Cue the saxophone and start the Benny Hill end of show race.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

Cue the saxophone and start the Benny Hill end of show race.

 

Oh Lord! Benny Hill truly is terrible. My parents tell me he wasn't even funny in the 1970s. True British humour is normally a combination of an anti hero, biting satire and deep deep sarcasm. Best examples are Only Fools and Horses, Red Dwarf, Yes Minister and The Office. Also if you can track down the final episode of Black Adder Goes Forth you'll spend 26 minutes laughing at but the final two minutes either in stunned silence or openly crying. (That episode was first broadcast in November 1988 to commemorate 70 years since the end of the First World War)

 

So if I was looking for classic American humour what should I track down? What are we not egtting over here that has you folks in stitches?

[qwazse 4345]

So if I was looking for classic American humour what should I track down? What are we not egtting over here that has you folks in stitches?

 

In no particular order,

 

1. Abbot and Costello, (search "Who's on first") 2. Mel Brooks, (search "2000 year old man"), 3. Bill Cosby (search "Hey Hey Hey"), 4. Jackie Gleason, 5. Richd Little, 6. Redd Foxx (search "Sanford and Sons"), 7. Lucille Ball (search "Hello Lucy"), 8. Beatrice Parker (search "Maude").

 

Any contemporary US comics worth listening to take their cues from these gentlemen and ladies.

 

But, yes, I found that the toughest part of Brits and Yanks living together was learning when the other was joking vs. being downright mean.