Speaking as someone from a rugby-playing nation, where mostly players wear no protection except mouthguards and shin pads, American Football is spectacular but insane.
Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent.
Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health issues, but the lack of protective helmets and body armour (and rules preventing tackling without using your arms) means that attacking players think about their own safety before launching ridiculously high impact hits on each other.
Wearing protective helmets just ups the ante as players launch into each other with full force. In rugby, you don't tackle someone like that as you'll hurt yourself, and fail to stop the opponent.
Rugby is a plenty violent sport, and has its own health issues, but the lack of protective helmets and body armour (and rules preventing tackling without using your arms) means that attacking players think about their own safety before launching ridiculously high impact hits on each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F6POhAbAhE