20 OCTOBER 2007, Page 12

I beg to differ... Football

The Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said: 'Some people think football is a matter of life and death. . . I can assure them it is much more serious than that.' No one could ever say that about rugby.

Football (never soccer) is simply the best game in the world. It offers a unifying language, it inspires passion from Bamako to Buenos Aires and Bombay to Bucharest. Even Japan fell in love with David Beckham during the 2002 World Cup and everyone loves the Germans after last year's tournament. As for the Rugby World Cup — who really truly cares? When England won, the crowds in Trafalgar Square seemed like a big deal, and of course it will be the same should we miraculously win on Saturday, but that was a tea party compared to what would happen if we'd brought home football's equivalent.

Then there are the aesthetics. Football is not known as the beautiful game for nothing Think Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldinho or Henry. International superstars and masters of their art. Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O'Driscoll are heroes only in their own backyards. Football is quicker and simpler; it's a true spectacle with skills that even someone new to the sport can appreciate. You don't get that with the rugby. It's all a baffling series of stops and starts and fat men grunting in the mud. But even though the players are fat, and though of course you could use the rugger bruisers on your side in a fight, football is a manlier game by far. Yes, I know, some footballers fall down as if shot after a tackle, feign injury and have girlish haircuts, but think Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, John Terry. They're real men: heros not gorillas. They fight like soldiers for their side. So give me Upton Park, Goodison Park or Fratton Park over smug, corporate Twickenham any day. Then there are the rugby rules. Who understands them? What's more rugby can't even agree on a single version of the game, so they've come up with two: union and league. Daft.

Footballers have better insults, better songs and better-looking girls. In rugby disappointments are forgotten over a pint; in football perceived injustices linger longer. It matters more.

Simon Horsford