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Jerrad
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Football: Ranked

Ranking the codes, or at least the codes that I'm familiar with.
1The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses


Association Football; aka Football, Soccer, Calcio....etc
The beautiful game is the undisputed king of codes across the overwhelming majority of the planet, simultaneously maintaining the depth of a brook and an ocean. It has what is perhaps the lowest barrier of entry among international sports as a whole regarding the equipment and skill needed to participate, yet the degree of tactical depth, flair, history, and culture could easily occupy an entire lifetime to fully digest and appreciate, with every country and culture bringing its own flavor and interpretation of the sport to the international stage. Between domestic leagues, cups, and continental competitions for club football, and everything that international fixtures and competitions bring to the table, there's always something exciting to follow and look forward to year-round.....
2Gorguts
Pleiades' Dust


....It's the one sport where a relegation/promotion battle can literally make or break communities, derbies are often proxies for larger geopolitical conflicts and struggles that could mirror (rightfully or wrongfully) the reality of an entire country or countries, and in spite of the endless stream of capital, scandals, and corruption that follows football like a shadow, it never fails to amaze, inspire, and captivate the collective imagination of billions of people across the world at any given moment. I'd never argue that football is the best sport, but it's certainly my favourite, and perhaps more than any other, there's never any shortage of cases to support its status as the world's game.
3Ulcerate
Shrines of Paralysis


Rugby Union
Most of what I wrote about association football's international character and flair also applies to rugby union, making this a close second in the ranking. Outside of Wales, parts of Ireland and France, and New Zealand, it will always have a reputation of being posh, and perhaps for good reason. It has mostly been limited to private schools since the 19th century, it only recently went professional in 1995, and it's not an easy sport to get into and play unless you happen to live in an area where it's dominant, or go to a school with the appropriate infrastructure needed to participate. It's also widely charged with being a complex and conservative game that has been slower than most in respect to embracing reforms and commercialization, with a stronger emphasis on refining collective skill over individual talent and star players, with club rugby generally serving the end of conditioning players for international play....
4Ulcerate
Stare Into Death and Be Still


....I am of the opinion that it's this conservative nature that makes the game stand out among the pack, maintaining the feel of a contact sport like American Football (which evolved from rugby in the 19th century), the pace of association football, and an overall culture that feels more organic and grassroots as a result of its hesitancy to commercialize (in spite of its bourgeois reputation). Thanks to Rugby 7s, it's also one of the world's fastest growing sports, with Major League Rugby in the US attracting loads of attention recently due to its peculiar ensemble of squads comprised of former legends from sides like the All Blacks and Springboks, college athletes, and weekend amateurs. With the class gap, and the skill gap between hemispheres diminishing year after year, there's never been a better time to give rugby union a chance.
5American Football
American Football


American football is often the subject of both intrigue and mockery within and especially outside of the US, between the circus that is the Super Bowl, cheerleaders, hyper-commercialization, the whole "football or soccer" issue, and legitimate concerns regarding the safety and health of its players. When it comes to pure entertainment value however, American football provides it in spades, and there isn't a sport on the planet that hits harder. Football culture can easily rival the degree of passion and emotion found in European football (especially college football), salary caps in the NFL go a long way in maintaining league jeopardy, and the lack of relegation and promotion provides a sense of stability for teams across the spectrum of quality and performance, giving every franchise a chance at success. American football is a microcosm of the US as a whole, it's at the core of the American psyche, and it'll be interesting to see how it grows and evolves over time
6Propagandhi
Supporting Caste


Rugby league
Where rugby union resisted professionalization until the end of the 20th century, rugby league embraced it a century earlier, and grew to become one of the most popular sports in northern England and Australia, becoming a working-class symbol in the process. It plays like a strange mix of rugby union and American football, having a system of phases similar to downs, lacking line-outs altogether, and has a scrum that is essentially just a quick-maul. It's an interesting game, it'd be relatively straightforward for a union or American football player to adapt to it, but outside of Australia, it's struggling to compete with other codes and sports, facing serious competition from the growth of union and rugby 7s.
7Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
The Boatman's Call


Gaelic & Aussie rules
Both are confined to their respective countries, both seem absolutely fascinating, but both are about as niche as possible for someone trying to follow either outside of Ireland and Australia.
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