Every sport has its rivalries. Whether it is the Oxbridge toffs and their rowing or the Neanderthals from Rugby League's Queensland vs New South Wales State of Origin, rivalries are everywhere. The Ashes in cricket, Collingwood versus anyone, in the AFL, Real Madrid versus Barcelona, these rivalries are deep and bitter. Sportingo’s pages regularly plays host to the ongoing battle between Manchester United fans and seemingly anyone who has anything other than glowing praise for their beloved club.

Underneath all of this is another, deeper rivalry, that of the rivalry between the various football codes. Graham Archer, in the last Sportingo Challenge, proved with the ingenious, if somewhat flawed (cricket is the best game in the world – everyone knows that), GRASP test that football was the best game in the world. Although Graham was referring to the soccer branch of the football tree, players and fans of a number of different branches would have agreed with the proclamation.

There are half a dozen football codes of significance around the world. Football (soccer) is at the top of the heap in terms of global uptake and support, but there is also, in no particular order, Gaelic Football, Australian Rules, Gridiron, Rugby Union and Rugby League.

Each code has its fans and detractors. They each have qualities that make them appealing and also qualities that make them a laughing stock in the eyes of their critics. They also, surprisingly, have varying degrees of involvement of the 'foot' part of football - in some cases so little as to make the use of the foot label questionable.

As an avid sports fan, I have spent many hours watching all of these codes. I have played competitively on both soccer and Aussie Rules teams, so I will confess to a bias with regard to these two sports. In the interest of fairness we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each of the games.

Rugby League is probably the most violent mainstream ball sport on earth. It is not difficult to imagine that it could have been dreamt up as a gladiatorial contest in ancient Rome. The ball often seems to be an inconvenience to the game, although there is, apparently, no truth to the rumour that passing was developed to free up a player’s hands for fighting.

It is a sport that requires the two teams to line up ten metres apart and charge at each other with the sole intention of causing injury. Each team has six tackles to move the ball as far up the field as possible before being forced to turn over the ball to the opposition.

It has some similarity to Rugby Union in that the score is called a try and is achieved by crossing the goal line and touching the ball down. It also has a version of the scrum, but one where you can apparently put the ball in anywhere and the opposition has absolutely no chance of getting it. The same-shaped ball and the word 'rugby' is where the similarities end.

Rugby Union - or the game they play in Heaven as anyone who mentions the game is legally obliged to call it - is a completely different game. Exactly why it is the game that’s played in Heaven is unclear, perhaps it has something to do with the sense of entitlement of the upper-class boys who invented it. Regardless, it has none of the stop-start characteristics of its namesake, instead flowing through “rucks” and “mauls” until the referee blows his whistle, seemingly at random and for no apparent reason. Scoring is the same as for Rugby League.

The participants claim that it is a gentleman’s game although, seeing the players coming off the ground, there is little in the way of evidence to support that claim. Punching, kicking, biting, raking opposition players with the studs of their boots are not traditionally the acts of a gentleman, but they are an integral part of the game of rugby. Of course, they make up for it when they all get in the bath together at the end of the game.

Gridiron, or American Football, despite the similarities with the rugby codes, is unlike any other game on earth. Its players are giants and Olympic-quality athletes but, with the exception of a gifted few, they are specialists in their particular area of the game. Separate teams are used to cover the different facets of the game and are swapped on and off the field – offence, defence, kickoff, punting – it wastes an awful lot of time. It also has a scoring method that requires the ball to be carried across the goalline and is called a touchdown, even though the ball isn’t actually required to be touched down. Go figure.

Stripped of all the timeouts, team swapping and other time-wasting stunts, American Football is quite engaging. The athletic ability of the participants is amazing and although scorn and derision is heaped upon the players for wearing the amount of padding that they do, particularly by rugby fans, any attempt to play the game without it would end up in death or serious injury. In the end though, it doesn’t have enough action to hold the interest of anyone who has seen any of the other codes.

Gaelic Football seems to be stereotypically Irish. By that I mean it seems that they wanted a game that wasn’t soccer and wasn’t rugby or, more plainly, something that wasn’t English. As a game, it falls somewhere between soccer and Aussie Rules football. It is fast-paced, skilfull and very entertaining.

It is a game rich in history, with records going back over 500 years, although it probably evolved from the same roots as soccer and rugby. Of all of the football codes listed here, it is the only one to remain an amateur sport. Attempts have been made to internationalise the sport, with a hybrid rules competition held annually with the Australians, however, on-field violence has threatened its future.

Which leads us neatly to Aussie Rules. Here is a game that requires skill, strength, courage, athletic ability and, on occasion, bar-room brawling skills. To complicate matters, the game is played with a ball that is similar in shape to a rugby ball, to ensure that it's unpredictable and to create more opportunity for player to run in to each other.

It requires players to pass the ball with pinpoint accuracy over distances of 50 to 60 metres. It allows players to tackle their opponents in a manner similar to a rugby tackle or simply shoulder charge them at any time when the ball is within five metres. The only things not allowed are tripping, hits to the head or tackles from behind.

Aussie Rules is the ultimate test of manhood, which perhaps explains why the rest of the world is reluctant to take it up. It has a bad reputation outside of Australia, mainly due to the brawls that habitually break out during the exhibition matches held at The Oval in London during its off-season. Such behaviour is not tolerated during the regular season. It does have some eccentric rules, such as giving a score for a near miss, possibly the only game in the world to do so, but it is fast, exciting and high scoring.

Finally, there is soccer – Association Football – the world game. It has a larger following than any other sport on earth. It is played on all continents and has roots that go back to ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece or China, depending on who you ask, and it has been played with balls ranging from leather covered animal bladders to the severed heads of vanquished opponents. It is game of great skill and fitness, the modern game that is, and it elicits great loyalty from its fans.

Its highlight is the World Cup which has an estimated viewing audience of up to 1.5 billion people (25 per cent of the world’s population) at any one time, which sounds ludicrous, but suffice to say it is a lot of people and a larger audience than that of its nearest competitor, the Olympic Games.

Those of us who have grown up watching any of the other codes have always laughed at the theatrics that is so often associated with soccer. Players regularly go down, as if shot, after a simple tap on the ankle. They writhe in apparently excruciating pain, only to recover seconds later with no lasting effects after the simple application of the magic spray. The other frustrating element is the blatant playing for free-kicks, an art form perfected by many nations, in particular one that is shaped like a boot when viewed in an atlas.

But enough of this, you know all of this already. Which code is the greatest? Which code defeats its rivals to be top of the heap? It’s hard to go past soccer, the sheer weight of numbers show that it appeals to the masses. Its worldwide spread sees the game played in over 200 countries and there are estimates that over 250 million people actually play the game.

As I said, it’s hard to argue with the numbers and go past soccer; but not impossible. Aussie Rules is a thrilling game that demands the complete athletic package. Although it has a small following, being played in only around 20 countries, it is growing and for good reason. Give it a look, you’ll be impressed.

Which is your favourite of the above-mentioned football codes - and why? Tell us at Sportingo.com