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maggotz said:
Actually, like footy, gridiron (our sport, however, evolved from rugby) was played on an amateur level long before anyone thought of turning pro. Some NCAA schools were playing in front of packed stadiums long before there was an NFL. But, unlike footy, amateur teams didn't turn into professional clubs, mainly because the NCAA teams were part of universities and did not want to evolve into professional sports leagues. Kids were there for academics, and received scholarships for athletics to help pay for a college degree. While that's still the case today, it's less about the academics when it comes to football/basketball scholarships.

The NFL in its early days was a ragtag league, a bunch of small businessmen and some ex-collegians who had been playing in front of a few hundred fans as amateurs after college that decided to try and play for pay. They followed NCAA in a sense, trying not to make them mad (because that's where the NFL players were coming from, obviously), which is why, e.g., the NFL instituted an annual draft of college graduates, because there was growing friction between NCAA and pro teams who were signing kids prior to graduation.

The NCAA was the power of gridiron football until about half a century or so ago. And for all of that time the idea was that the amateurs (college kids) were playing for love of sport. After graduation, they played for love of money, which seemed to cheapen things for fans. Kind of a skewed way of looking at it, but that was the way most people felt about NCAA/NFL for the first 30-40 years of NFL. Even CFL was more popular in Canada (and at least as popular in parts of USA) in those early days of NFL.

It wasn't until the 1958 overtime NFL Championship game, which was nationally televised, that popularity in the pro ranks really started taking hold, and that led to the AFL's formation in 1959 (their first season was 1960). Both leagues had national TV deals, and that started to cement the bond between pro football and football fans who traditionally always followed NCAA. Suddenly lots of people were regularly watching the pros and collegians on TV regularly. Pete Rozelle (NFL Commissioner at that time) was a wonderful marketer and was also a big reason for pro football's current popularity. He was one of the main orchestrators of the merger between the leagues, which led to a 26 team NFL in 1970, and the NFL has grown in popularity ever since.

NCAA is still popular because somehow the magic of the college sport didn't diminish with the increase in popularity of the pro sport. We still like watching kids play "for the love of the sport", and I don't think that would ever go away, even if the NFL did.
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So essentially, the NCAA (or College Football) is similar to the VFL, NEAFL, WAFL and SANFL combined and put into Universities? With the NFL acting as the AFL in this scenario.

Also, can you tell me please, what's the difference between College and University over there? I've never been given a proper answer
 
I like the US system, because there is large emphasis on playing NCAA before playing pro sport. They have to concept of studying first, and then going to play pro. Also, if you watch the start of an NFL match they will go through the defensive side and offensive side, and the players will say their name followed by which College/University they attended, as a sign of pride.
 
Bryce_Jersey17 said:
So essentially, the NCAA (or College Football) is similar to the VFL, NEAFL, WAFL and SANFL combined and put into Universities? With the NFL acting as the AFL in this scenario.

Also, can you tell me please, what's the difference between College and University over there? I've never been given a proper answer
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We're required 13 years of public or private schooling (grade school, jr. high and high school was our local public system), or an equivalent diploma can be tested for after a person has turned legal age for such things, which is 18, here. A diploma of this type is required to enter a university, college or smaller post-high school career training school (variety of names for those). You could probably get into college with an equivalent diploma, but it's not likely to happen at a university. An American university is basically a larger, more prestigious version of an American college. Universities have more money to spend (state and federally funded, in most cases), therefore they offer more, have full time dorm rooms and sororities and fraternities on campus, offer scholarships to academic and athletic standouts and have higher admission standards. Colleges are easier to get into, but don't have full time living accommodations on campus (people usually attend college while living with parents or working to pay to live close by while going to school).

[EDIT: That's a general rule. We have a branch of Ohio University in my hometown, but no one lives on campus and they don't have an athletics department that supports any teams besides basketball and maybe volleyball.]

Maybe I made a bad analogy on the AFL/NFL comparison, sorry. NCAA is strictly for people who are attending an American university within the NCAA system. (Smaller universities are in smaller divisions of NCAA or NAIA, so not all compete against the ones we all know the names of, or some, not at all). Athletes in NCAA games or matches in any sport are playing for the university they are currently attending school at. You couldn't be traded, like you could from one team to another in NFL. You could switch schools, which sometimes requires sitting out of athletics for a year, but when you had switched schools and returned to athletics you would now be playing for the university you now attend, not the team you played for previously. So, rarely does an NCAA football player ever play for two different teams in NCAA. (By the way, even though NCAA is mostly universities, I think some colleges are involved also, and we generally use the term "college" as interchangeable with "NCAA". I just realized as I was about to type "two different teams in college" and realized that's probably really confusing to non-Americans. We do use that word as sort of a blanket term, also.)

So, in the footy system, NCAA is more like TAC Cup. Players are drafted from NCAA ranks into pro ranks. NFL doesn't really have a minor league system (NFL Europe was the last try at that), so if a player doesn't make the NFL team who held his draft rights and he is cut, he can play for anyone who would give him a chance, which might be another NFL team, CFL, Arena football or regional outdoor semi-pro. Other sports are somewhat different. Basketball does have a minor league system, so a player can develop between graduating college (blanket term ;)) and NBA if not good enough right after his NCAA eligibility expired. Baseball generally develops its own talent through junior ranks like hockey, and both have extensive minor league (farm) systems, so they don't need to depend on drafting from NCAA players who have used up their NCAA eligibility. That's why NCAA baseball and hockey are not as big as NCAA football and basketball.
 
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Codym2723 said:
Just wondering what phone does everyone use?? I'm an iphone 5S user
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Currently have an Iphone 4, but it has well and truly gone to the gods. Touch screen doesn't work and it's gonna cost $179 to get replaced by Apple. Once I have an income that is more stable than what I've currently got, I'll most likely go on a plan for a 5C.
 
Greater Gattsby said:
Currently have an Iphone 4, but it has well and truly gone to the gods. Touch screen doesn't work and it's gonna cost $179 to get replaced by Apple. Once I have an income that is more stable than what I've currently got, I'll most likely go on a plan for a 5C.
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5C= overpriced plastic piece of crap, also get a 6 or 5S because the chip in it won't be able to handle new software like ios 9
 

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Codym2723 said:
My next phone I'm considering switching to samsung but that won't be for at least 2 years maybe
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I would have bought an iPhone 6 BUT:

1) soldered in battery = no user replaceable parts (also part of 2)
2) no expansion memory (i.e. MicroSD)
3) the bendy thing (I'm a larger lad so...)
4) CBF buying all the iOS versions of my purchased Android stuff (games, tripview yadayada)
 
rabbitoh20 said:
I would have bought an iPhone 6 BUT:

1) soldered in battery = no user replaceable parts (also part of 2)
2) no expansion memory (i.e. MicroSD)
3) the bendy thing (I'm a larger lad so...)
4) CBF buying all the iOS versions of my purchased Android stuff (games, tripview yadayada)
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Nothing wrong with my 5S it's just I like the look of them plus everyone says their better even know they are all iphone users lol
 
IPhones are good for old people who like an uncomplicated phone experience.

If you have even the tiniest amount of technological literacy, then android is for you. It does everything an iphone can do and more. It is 100% customizable. Want a brightness higher than what the screen will allow? Easy, there's an app for that. So too volume. Homescreens can also be customized with whatever widgets you like. So that's nice.

Also micro sd s for storage.
 

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Stewart2Austin said:
IPhones are good for old people who like an uncomplicated phone experience.

If you have even the tiniest amount of technological literacy, then android is for you. It does everything an iphone can do and more. It is 100% customizable. Want a brightness higher than what the screen will allow? Easy, there's an app for that. So too volume. Homescreens can also be customized with whatever widgets you like. So that's nice.

Also micro sd s for storage.
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This sounds oath as
 
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