The addition of helmets, shoulder pads and downs which evolved rugby into American football meant harder hits and higher likelihood of concussions. Rugby doesn't have these problems because the fast non-stop fluid nature of the game means you can't tackle someone hard enough to cause the same level of damage because you have to be able to get up and run again right away. The stop-start nature of American football promotes tackling someone as hard as they can because you can always recover between plays.
"Rugby doesn't have these problems because the fast non-stop fluid nature of the game means you can't tackle someone hard enough to cause the same level of damage because you have to be able to get up and run again right away."
Rugby doesn't have these problems because there are very specific rules about what constitutes a legal tackle and what doesn't.
You can't:
- Tackle a player without the ball
- Tackle a player in the air (e.g. a full-back going up to catch a high ball)
- "Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst
that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come
into contact with the ground is dangerous play."[1]
Or you can be replaced on the field by another player while you wait for the blurry vision to go away. I have always wondered what football would be like if you changed just one thing: Limit substitutions to one per half like Soccer and thus, obviously, force all players to play offence, defence, and special team plays.
American Football was always this violent, even before the pads. They managed to kill 19 (NINETEEN) people playing it in 1905, well before the helmets came in (1939ish, although: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_football_helmet).
