LRZ

[fishfoodie]

No. College is the next level.

The new starter leagues in the spring do offer an opportunity though. The UFL, which is the result of a merger of two organisations doing the same thing, now has 8 teams and plays spring football, from March to June. It's much lower budget, and still making a loss but they are confident their model will work and they'll continue to operate as a kind of minor league for the NFL (although completely independent). I could definitely see LRZ being loaned out to one of the teams for the season.

Bit is there an amateur club scene, like we have for rugby

Not really. There is some, but it's in no way a preparation for the NFL.

It's an odd sport like that; there's virtually zero played outside of College & the Pro game, unlike say baseball, where there are diamonds everywhere & all sorts of amateur leagues for softball etc, but you'll see more public soccer fields than football ones

[Mahoney]

Why do amateurs play softball?

[Margin__Walker]

Yep, it's very odd. Huge college sport, with virtually nothing to go to when it finishes.

I went to uni in the States for a year at a Division 2 school. Team had a small army of athletes in the squad, playing to 5-10k spectators every week. Virtually all of whom will have walked away from playing the sport by the age of 22. Along with all but the very best in even the Division 1 schools. Thousands just stop playing at the end of college.

That's before you even get to all the kids that stop playing at the end of high school if they don't get a scholarship and aren't academic/can't afford college

[Sandstorm]

Yep, it's very odd. Huge college sport, with virtually nothing to go to when it finishes.

I went to uni in the States for a year at a Division 2 school. Team had a small army of athletes in the squad, playing to 5-10k spectators every week. Virtually all of whom will have walked away from playing the sport by the age of 22. Along with all but the very best in even the Division 1 schools. Thousands just stop playing at the end of college.

That's before you even get to all the kids that stop playing at the end of high school if they don't get a scholarship and aren't academic/can't afford college

Those silk hankies they chuck onto the pitch are too expensive for amateur clubs to be able to afford.

[fishfoodie]

Why do amateurs play softball?

It's the touch rugby version of baseball

Baseball is a dull enough game; at least if you make the ball huge & throw it underarm there's a chance an amateur will be able to get a hit; there aren't many who'll get close to even a slow ~60mph fast ball

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Why do amateurs play softball?

This was actually the starting point of the famous Carpenters song, but ultimately despite them both being just huge baseball fans they opted for something that scanned rather better