American Football vs. Rugby:
This is an ongoing (and usually acrimonius) debate wherever Rugby afficianados meet with North American sports fans (especially English speaking backpackers from the UK, Australia/New Zealand and SouthAfrica).
First of all, it is a meaningless debate. They are two very different games.
Matthias is from Bavaria in Germany so you would expect him to prefer the game of rugby. For whatever reason, he plays American Football (a.k.a. Gridiron).
At 240 lbs., (approx. 110 kg.) he’s a pretty big boy and plays centre. He hands off the ball from his position in the middle of the line that has the job to protect the quarterback.
It’s a brutal sport in which on virtually every play, it is the job of everybody on the field to hit somebody. To the uninitiated, it can seem a bit ridiculous because it actually is and it’s definitely complicated.
Matthias is what you might call a “gentle giant”. He’s very popular with other backpackers and hostel staff. But if he wants a career playing American Football, he’s about 40 or 50 kgs too small to play the position of “Centre”.
.jpg)
.jpg)