Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:
I think it has to do with the traditions. I believe originally rugby was played by the higher class, with a certain upbringing. I have a colleague who works as a part time rugby ref and he's puzzled as to why the ref doesn't send off half of the players in a football game. I, on the other hand, am often puzzled as to how the refs command so much respect in rugby. Another point of view could be that football's expansion to take over the world is based on the fact that one really doesn't need much to play football. Compared to some other sports (e.g. ice-hockey), it's cheaper and easier to play football, all you need is a ball (or something that you can use as a ball) and a good imagination...
Full answer by posdef: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/1994 (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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