Not really, though, is it? Two advantages football has are a lack/simplicity of rules/laws and a much looser structure which makes it far easier to play for a few kids with a ball and no ref.
There's more to it than that but I think it helps football's popularity considerably.
Yep. A game that can be played by a group of kids of a number between 6 and 30 with jumpers for goal posts on a patch of bare land will always have an easy in compared to any of the oval ball games, whether they're RU, RL, NFL, ARL, etc.