remember here in england there are Technically 2 types of football, though we call them " football" and "rugby" (of which there are two types)
thry are:
1: Football, the beautiful game, is a game of kicking a ball , the "football" with your foot, and scoring "Goals", with skill and team work.
2: Rugby Football , which is a game split into 2 distict types, "Union" and "League"
"Rugby Union" is the more traditional form of the game, quite complicated and involving more stops for weird none understandable stuff. team split into Forwards (big slow guys) and backs (faster guys), although the difference is starting to become harder to tell see 'Jona Lomu'
"Rugby League" a more free flowing game involving more running where the team in controll of the ball is allowed to be tackled 7 times before haveing to hand over control of the ball to the oposition. The two types forward and backs are less defined they are all just big and fast.
your "American football" is more bastardisation of our rugby (more like League) and nothing to do with actuall "football" or soccer as you call it.
If you want to see something watch 'Jona Lomu' of the 'new zealand all blacks' (F@@KING huge guy that can run very fast) run havoc with the ball, quite a spectacle and no pads/helmets in sight (to the dismay of the poor guy/guys trying to tackle him)
