Poll: Toughest Sport

[[BDS]Omega]

Has to be rugby. While Hockey and American football players have protective equipment (pads helmets) these guys tough it out without any of that and play at a breakneck pace. Rugby players are real men (and women play too, sometimes better than men).

 

[CoL0sS]

Hockey followed by handball and soccer.

 

[Wolfram23]

As a Canadian who grew up playing hockey... I think rugby or Australian Rules Football are worse. People who play that are crazy. Hockey would be 2nd after that I guess. I mean I've seen some pretty bad hockey injuries. My friend nearly killed someone... not on purpose, it was a clean hit but he crushed the kid into the boards and the kid had to go to the hospital and had a blood vessel in his head pop or something crazy. He was hospitalized for like 2 weeks. I've also known guys with broken wrists and collar bones from hockey. Personally I haven't had much worse than a terribly banged up/hyper extended knee and had the wind knocked out of me at least a few times.

 

[Free-man]

Rugby, Definitely

 

[Shifty Tortoise]

Rugby, without a doubt, American football/hockey don't even compare. They wear body armour for christs sake

 

[SadakoMoose]

Wrestling. The real kind, not the wussy TV kind.

Toughest sport is probably a three-way tie between wrestling (real not that "professional" bullshit) boxing and MMA. All three are incredibly physically demanding, requiring not only considerable training in the learning of the fighting techniques but also considerable physical conditioning (weight-lifting, running, and so forth) as well as learning to endure a substantial amount of physical pain and keep fighting.

Well, now hold on there. While I wouldn't personally try to play the "my sport is tougher" game, I will argue that professional wrestling is a fairly demanding athletic endeavor. Here's a excerpt regarding the training at the Pro Wrestling NOAH Dojo in Japan:

"When not on tour, Dakota would train 6 days a week. ?I lived with 6 other young wrestlers in a small apartment and we would wake up around 9:00 and eat a small breakfast before we went to the Dojo for training.? said Dakota. He continued, ?We would start with about 20 minutes stretching on our own before we did some calisthenics together to warm up. After that we did at least 600 variations of ab crunches, 300 push-ups, 200 back extensions, and 15 minutes of neck bridges - every day. That took about an hour. Then we would work one body part with weights and resistance training for about 30 minutes until that muscle was totally fatigued. After this, we usually did a combination of technique training, matches, amateur sparring, and squats for an hour or more. This ended the group training; we finished off our workout with individual weight training. A training session usually lasted around 4-5 hours and ended around 3:00-4:00 .?

This difficult training, combined with a 300 days a year schedule and the potential for serious injury and you have yourself a very rough business.
Here's a real ugly botch just to demonstrate how:
while we're at it

I'm not saying it's the toughest, but let's give it it's due at least.

 

[Scarim Coral]

My vote is going for Rugby. I had a scar on my ear (it gone now) thank to that sport.

 

[acer840]

Rugby Union. Watch a game between the All Blacks (New Zealand) and the Wallabies (Australia) and watch how rough it can get on the field. Youtube some of the older games, as the rules and regulations have made it a bit safer... just a bit.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

Might want to change the poll options to make it opvious that you're talking about Ice Hockey, as over here (Australia) if someone says Hockey they mean Field Hockey.[/quote]

Could be either. I've played deck/field hockey too. And that takes up space, so I just kinda lumped it all together, though no offense was meant.

 

[Michael Henrikson]

Foil fencing is ridiculously difficult. Your holding a four foot piece of metal in your hand; trying to stand properly, trying to move while balancing in an unnatural position, moving back and forth with your opponent, parrying incoming attacks and still trying to formulate a plan of action that results in you depressing a point on the weapon with at least 500 grams of force on your opponents chest. Not to mention the rules of right of way. And all this while moving your hand faster than the human eye can see, and another person doing there best to stop you at every turn. Now that is pure difficulty.

 

[emeraldrafael]

So, as an American (though really, a few of my more international friends have noticed it to), its getting rather tiring to see the argument over whether Rugby or (American) Football is tougher.

Cant Rugby and Football fans unite over a common lack of respect for Soccer instead of going at each others throats?

I somehow doubt so, but thats just me you know. Personally, I dont see the appeal to either, and Soccer just bores me to tears. But then again, I'm a hockey person.

Snip

You give us far too much credit, chum. Every safety measure possible is taken and you only really put yourself at risk if you're careless or stupid (OK, with the odd equipment failure)- so please don't go round recommending that people try this without supervision or the proper gear; that isn't fencing, it's an accident waiting to happen.

True, but you're still staring down at a weapon. And while every possible measure has been taken, I've seen how bad it can get. Besides, I'm one of those stupid people that does it without the equipment. Like I siad, I find it it a matter of Opinion mostly, but any person that can hoesntly look at it and keep their cool is pretty much laughing at death.

Anyway, I dont think anyone would hoenstly go out and do that, but if you want to call yourself strong and tough, its a good proving ground.

Do not use the term 'Soccer', it is Football.

Use '(American) Football' or 'Handegg' for the sport Handegg, then 'Football' for Football.

Dont tell me how to run my polls, thank you.

 

[Pillypill]

Who the hell voted for american football? It's like rugby just with armour and different rules.

I've seen people have their ears ripped off, noses broken, legs crushed and spines bent playing rugby and since i assume that we're only counting ball sports (no wrestling or boxing, or any other "sports")that makes rugby my choice.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Hockey, definitely. The puck can do a lot of damage, plus all the players are on skates..

 

[Flitt7788mulee]

American football. It was either that or rugby and while in rugby the players don't requite protective gear in the NFL blocking, tacking and pushing is a mandatory aspect. Whereas in rugby, the purpose of the game revolves around running lines and tackling around the waist. NFL: Majority of the players during/ straight after the snap are involved in full on physical warfare with each other, and can just about use any means of stopping/blocking/tacking the other player.
The scrum in rugby is the toughest factor of the sport; but funnily enough it is more casual than blocking in American Football.

 

[Samwise137]

I voted hockey but I feel like there's one tougher. Hurling seems pretty bad ass. I heard somewhere you can bash people in the back of the head.

 

[Flitt7788mulee]

In addition: I actually think ice hockey tougher than Rugby, but I haven't had the benefit of playing Ice hockey. Looks tough. D:

 

[fnlrpa]

Lacrosse.
As a goalie, having a solid rubber ball moving at you going 80-100 mph is scary and wearing less pads than other players makes it even scarier

 

[luckycharms8282]

Why did you not include boxing and karate and all that jazz? Id have to say track/cross country. For any and every race you participate in, you push your body to its limits, and you go a little bit farther and a little bit faster each time.

 

[Flitt7788mulee]

I changed my mind. English football is the toughest sport: regardless of what transpires on the pitch, the fucking enlgish media make it tougher...

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Rugby, without a doubt, American football/hockey don't even compare. They wear body armour for christs sake

I've played Union, League, American Football and even a bit of Aussie Rules.

American Football seems pussy but when those fuckers wearing it slam into you, you're bloody glad you're wearing it... Doesn't make it any tougher or weaker, though... it all balances out when everyone is kitted out with it.

Toughest for physical contact is a draw for both forms of Rugby and American Football. If pushed for a single winner, I'd say Union because I've been on the bottom of too many rucks not to respect it.

Toughest for endurance would be a coin toss for Union or Aussie Rules. Very limited interchange for both, far more flowing style of play. Tie break would probably go to Aussie rules and the amount of running an elite level midfielder does during the course of a match (of 25+ minute long quarters)... just look at the size of the average aussie rules oval.