The Only Game in Town

Its amazing what goes through your head when you wake up early. This morning :

Of all the games called football, there is only one worthy of the name. I am aware of the following "football" games.

1 Association Football
2 Rugby League
3 Rugby Union
4 American
5 Gaelic
6 Australian Rules

Of these, only two ( 1 and 5) actually use a ball (i.e. a round thing). The others seem to use some kind of melon. However, the main reason that there is only one game worthy of the name of football is that, apart from the first game, actually kicking the ball is a secondary part of all these games. Indeed, in American football kicking the ball is almost a sign of failure. Apart from the extra point after a touch down, the ball is only kicked (a punt or a field goal attempt) when a a charge fails to progress. In rugby, a match where all the points are scored by kicking is generally regarded as a poor game. Gaelic and Australian are more balanced, but kicking seems to be no more than half the game.