I have a confession to make: I am a football lover who enjoys watching rugby!
If I am being completely honest, I really mean the Six Nations but there is still a common perception that the enjoyment of football and rugby must be mutually exclusive.
I am by no means an expert on the oval ball sport but understand enough to enjoy the intensity of matches at International level.
It is interesting to observe another sport and question whether there is anything that is done within it that would benefit football or that is unsurprisingly overlooked by either players, managers or those who administer our game.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson looks on in despair from his vantage point in the Murrayfield stand. Photo: Getty.
One of the differences that I found relevant was the way in which the head coaches of the international sides and their support coaching staff observe the match.
It appears to be done from a position up in the stands where their vision is supported by the match action being seen on small television monitors.
This would appear to be a sensible vantage point to take and yet is one we rarely see replicated in football.
There are managers that choose to watch from a better position than pitch-side with Sam Allardyce and Walter Smith at times being amongst them but, given the advantages in seeing the game more clearly from higher up, why do more coaches not do it in football?
One possible answer is the ease with which you can communicate with your players from the dugout areas and managers may view this as essential in terms of getting the best from their players, and also feel it places them in a position where they are better equipped to make quick changes to their side.
It must be noted that as the vast majority of football managers spend the game at pitch level they must develop a strong skill in assessing the game from that viewpoint.
I have undertaken my coaching certificates and must confess that observing a team's shape from the touchline is more troublesome than from sitting in the stand.
Perhaps the advances in technology mean that more football managers, especially at the top level where the facilities are available, will follow the lead of rugby in this respect.
Or could it be that the technical area will long remain the treasured domain of a football coach?
There are other areas where I believe football could follow rugby's lead, with the use of sin bins for cautionable offences being one definitely worth considering.
I think there is an argument for the red card that a player receives for denying a goal-scoring opportunity in the box to be changed to 10 or 15 minutes in a sin bin.
The reason I say this is because in this instance a team concedes a penalty, more often than not a goal from the award and then is punished again by going a man down.
Even from a spectator's perspective, it makes sense: the recent Aberdeen against Celtic match surely suffered as a spectacle from Andrew Considine being dismissed in the opening minute.
Furthermore, the numerical advantage with a time limit on it would then almost force the team with the man extra to try to make the most of the situation and consequently open a match up.
Of course, there will be counter arguments for the introduction of such a radical change to the laws of the game but there is definitely scope for football to widen its eyes, come down from its pedestal as the world's greatest game and perhaps learn from some other sports.
I must finish by saying that I also think that there are aspects of football that I would suggest rugby could embrace, such as a greater flow to the game, fewer stoppages and why not throw in some proper celebrations of tries?
Also, as much as I enjoy the Six Nations, I was in Paisley watching St Mirren playing Hibs and still would not swap it for a ticket for Murrayfield - once a football man, always a football man, it seems!
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jackross/2011/02/what_can_football_learn_from_r.html
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