Israel Folau’s recent decision to sign with the NSW Waratahs has hogged the headlines, despite the fact that all three of ‘Izzy’s’ codes are in their off-seasons.
His defection from Australian Rules to rugby union, just one year after leaving rugby league, adds an extra dimension to the code-jumping debate.
Of course, there have been several high-profile cross-code flirtations by league and union players over the past few years. Debate raged about the implications of Mat Rogers, Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Sonny Bill Williams and Karmichael Hunt switching codes.
Did it cheapen both league and union? Were these players simply mercenaries after more money? Or were they tremendous athletes who should be admired for their adaptability?
Reading Roar Expert David Lord’s piece on the Folau saga, a single line jumped out from the page. Tongue-in-cheek, Lord joked, ‘have the Socceroos made an offer so that Folau can make it four codes in four seasons?’
I understand that the writer is exaggerating for effect. Clearly, nobody actually thinks that Folau is on the radar for any of the A-League sides, let alone the Socceroos. I get the joke.
However, Lord – perhaps unwittingly – raises an important point. No football contracts will ever be offered to a rugby league or union player, nor will any Australian Rules players, not even the Swans’ Adam Goodes, become professional footballers.
The simple reason is that football – and by football I mean the game played with the feet – is simply a far more technically difficult game than the other football codes. More to the point, to play at the highest level, or even at the level of the A-League, footballers must be highly proficient and constantly perfect a very unique set of skills.
This is not to take anything away from athletes from other codes. The gladiators that endure such relentless brutality in league and union deserve due respect. Put a hip and shoulder into Lionel Messi and see what happens. And the athleticism of Australian Rules players is nothing short of Herculean. European tourists bred on football may be thoroughly confused by the rules of the game, but are usually impressed by the physicality of AFL players.
However, as Karmichael Hunt and Israel Folau have shown, it is not totally insurmountable for a rugby league or rugby union player to perform competently in the AFL. They may not possess the classy skills and vision of Gary Ablett, but they can compete at the top.
All three codes are essentially based on athleticism, toughness and decent levels of hand-eye coordination. They also share a similar shaped ball.
By contrast, football requires a completely unique set of skills which are incredibly difficult to master.
French football manager Arsene Wenger illustrates this point by insisting that all footballers must develop a sound technique by the age of fourteen.
Wenger’s standards are, to be sure, very high. Yet the point remains that in a globalised market, the best players are in competition with millions of hopeful footballers from around the world. There is no time to waste.
While the Waugh brothers and Adam Goodes were apparently excellent amateur footballers, once they had chosen their respective careers in cricket and Australian Rules, there was no turning back. You cannot simply take a sabbatical from football.
Interestingly, Melbourne based cultural historian Ian Syson has uncovered what he calls ‘the game that never happened.’ Apparently, in 1964, the captain of the South Melbourne VFL side, Jack Dyer, challenged Slavia Port-Melbourne to a football match. With the view that the ‘big girls’ would be no match for the Bloods, Dyer was confident that the Rules players could beat Slavia at their own game.
Dyer was in for a shock. Playing an unfamiliar and technically difficult sport, the VFL stars were not only beaten soundly, but the legendary Ron Barrasi had to leave the field with an injury. The true-blue boys from South Melbourne were bruised and beaten by a bunch of ‘dagoes’ and ‘big girls’!
The game, needless to say, was quickly forgotten by Rules officials and historians.
As league and union players continue to experiment with other codes of football, the elephant in the room becomes harder to ignore.
Football is, and will likely remain, the only game untroubled by code-jumpers. It is simply too difficult to just learn the game on the run.
Good luck to Israel Folau at the Waratahs. Playing rugby, Australian Rules and league at the highest level is a remarkable achievement. Let’s hope he finds a home in rugby union.
If he doesn’t, there will be no flirtation with the round ball. Football will extend him no welcome. It will always remain a game far too skillful for him.
David Heidelberg
Guest
Scrumfhalf/halfback: Diego Maradona — great balance, vision, nuggety, strong and fast. Iamgine Piri Weepu. And in rugby he would not need to worry about cowardly crippling fouling. Anyone taking him on wuld cnfornt him front on, like real men, unlike cowards such as Gentile and Goixoecha (or however you spell it). Ken Catchpole would disagree. Having grown up playing football and both Rugby codes that is a silly comment, Rugby has sadly seen some of the most cowardly acts ever committed on a sporting field usually by the All Blacks.At the amateur level few sports can match the off-field camaraderie that amateur Rugby provides.
David Heidelberg
Guest
Slater is an example of the rare athletethat could have succeded n sport taht were words apart, RL and riding.
Shahsan
Guest
Which rugby?
TC
Guest
No, he hasn't got me - he quite obviously hasn't tried to teach 7 year old kids how to play netball. At that age group - netball is far, far more technical to soccer - it's not even a contest. TC
Cugel
Roar Rookie
There should be an award for the most ridiculous use of the word football. Title of this article a strong contender.
Bondy.
Guest
Nothing I can disagree on here, enjoy your sports. The Rugby point is interesting.
Westie Nomad
Roar Rookie
All these comments come from a melbourne/victorian perspective, until you have played each code you have no idea what your on about. I played football from nappies to teens where i played at a fairly high level making rep teams etc. I then moved to Rugby League where i discoved some of the skills i had from football were transferable. I then played rugby where i noticed that each position requires a different body type. I then played AFL where i was told to not come back becuase i was too aggresive in the tackle yet gained 20 posseions every week from being aggresive in a pack situation. I love each game for thier own qualities.... Football - technically difficult but physicallity is not a factor, with a high degree of mental focus(offside,tackling skills,vision etc) No fat blokes allowed at any level above park football. Rugby League - simple game for those with a big build and low endurance, high degree of physicallity low degree of mental challenge. Rugby union - complex game with numerous rules and variations, game allows for all body shapes and sizes to participate at all levels. Technical skills vary dependent upon position. AFL - Simple game for those with a marathoners endurance and muscular build. no fat blokes allowed! Technical skills can be learnt in time, mild physically compared to other contact codes. Some strange nuances to grasp(Ball up/throw ins, tackling, handballing) As a sydney sider i have had memberships for all codes at one time or another, however I attend A league religously, and RL and Super rugby more frequently, AFL has someway to go to grab more people here that are like me support all sports.
joe b
Guest
....my comment should have read : To say Soccer is more “technically difficult” than other football codes is incorrect.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
joe b Name the time & place. I'll bet my entire assets on being able to carry the ball in my arms for any distance & over any terrain, quicker than you can carry the ball with your feet.
joe b
Guest
"What’s your easiest strategy?" for me, both of those options are easy....perhaps some primates are more advanced than others.
joe b
Guest
Fussball, league is a spin off from rugby, a lot of the skills required are the same and there is some similarity in the rules. The main points of difference are scrums, break downs, lineouts and rolling mauls which is why you don't see league forwards transferring into rugby forwards...you do see backs moving from league to rugby because it is more similar in those positions. AFL players don't switch to either of the rugby codes, Folau went from league to rugby via AFL which he only played a handful of games unsuccessfully. So a more sensible comment would read " some league backs switch to rugby to play in the backline due to the similarity, much the same as some Gaelic footballers switch to soccer or aussie rules".
Shahsan
Guest
Dasilva, you are spot on. Yes, soccer requires specialized skill that is not transferable to the oval codes easily, while the skills of the oval codes are more easily interchangeable. It doesn't mean that soccer players or skills are superior skills. And besides, even in soccer there is skillful and there is skillful. For every messi, there are a hundred Andy carrols; for every Paul gascoigne there are hundreds of Carlton palmers, Andy sintons and Danny mills. While no rugby or afl player could ever be compared with messi, Ronaldo or Neymar, I reckon some of the best athletes in those codes would be not much worse than sasa ogonoski, or even our old journeyman pal Craig foster if given the right training (I am being facetious , I know but still making a valid point).
millane
Guest
with shahsan on this... fuzznuts started the crap... fuzznuts should pull his head in but as a sociopathic pompous arrogant prat i dare say fuzznuts wouldnt be able to see the error of his ways
dasilva
Guest
It's not necessarily that Football requires more talent than other sport rather that the talent required to football is far more specialised and really only useful to football I don't think Football has more talent (when I mean talent I include a combination of physical, mental, tactical, and technical skills) than any other sport but rather the technical skill in football is exclusive to football. The physical demands and the technical skills of AFL and the two rugby codes are more overlapping than it is with football. The ability to control a round ball with your feet and to pass accurately with that doesn't really translate well with other sports but it's essential to play the game at a basic level
Shahsan
Guest
In case you haven't noticed, rugby union and league are very similar in some ways, so the skills can be interchangeable in a limited respect. Falau's case has shown its not easy to swap to afl, and you couldn't really call Hunt a great success either. FAlau has played union before so it won't be hard for him to learn it again. But I get your point: it is highly unlikely for rugby or afl players to be a success in soccer if they've never played it before. And it is even more unlikely for any soccer player to be able to make it in either of the rugby codes or afl.
Shahsan
Guest
How does he trump all those men? But okay,, if you want to talk about services to the aboriginal community, mark Loane has spent about a month every year for the past 10 years giving free sight-saving eye operations to indigenous Australians in the cape York peninsula. Next.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I guess that explains why so many players switch between Rugby & League ... and now AFL to Rugby. And, not only switch codes, some of them end up playing for the National Team. I guess, those technique are very hard to master unless you've perfected those techniques by age 30?
MV Dave
Guest
Charles Perkins, Aboriginal Leader...l reckon trumps your lot...and of course he is an Aussie ( and a great one at that).
Shahsan
Guest
I'm the one getting desperate? Go look at the thread and see who brought in Neanderthals and prison wardens and inmates. (Clue: it wasn't me) but if you want to throw an insult at me, I'll throw back some facts. And yes, it's always good old Socrates, soccer's one and only medical graduate. Who was only barely a doctor. Ok I'll take your Socrates and raise you (just from the list above; there are many more) dr bill Campbell, vascular surgeon; dr mark Loane, ophthalmologist; dr David Kirk, GP; dr Felipe contempomi, general surgeon; dr jannie du plessis, emergency specialist, and soon to be doctor and current welsh centre Jamie Roberts.
MV Dave
Guest
Getting desperate Shahsan...so much for your so called balanced view.