Doctors urge schools to ban tackling in rugby ?

[Midwest]

You watch the 6 nations at the moment. How many of them are truely hurt? Yeah a bit of blood gets spilt, maybe someone gets sent of winded but rarely do they get hospitalised.

That's cos they're fit as ****, with bulging muscles, that would scare the pants off Rambo.

 

[hightower]

I've only glanced through the replies on here, but I don't think this point has been raised yet (apologies if it has):

So these kids are going to one day turn 18, sign for a seniors club, and learn the hard way what a real tackle is? Surely it would make more sense to teach them how to tackle safely at a young age (and how to take a tackle safely) so that when they play their first senior match their head doesn't roll off with a Courtney Lawes special?

 

[Midwest]

I'll also make a point, which I don't know if it also already been raised. Youngsters playing rugby, already have certain conditions imposed according to age, weight & ability; tag tackling, no rucs etc. These were bought about over the years, not just because the injuries sustained by youngsters (I remember a young teenager breaking his neck as a result of a scrum),but also realisation that kids grow up physically differently and mentally. It's therefore difficult to match them up by just age alone. This is not just a UK thing, but practised by all Rugby playing countries.

Whilst I agree, against the taking away of all aspects of the sport and the involvement in it, I cannot see any justification, in any child receiving a life changing injury just by participating in a sport. You do that, when you're old enough to make that informed decision yourself.

My nephew, who played rugby as a teenager and is now doing voluntary work teaching youngsters in Africa for a charity, which shows the ability of the sport to engage kids. I've not read whats being proposed but lets not forget by it very nature it can be a dangerous sport, if played with the full rules. Anything that makes it safey for kids to take part and participate, and enjoy playing, must be consided IMO.

 

[YoungScud]

everything in life has a degree is risk. Its all about evaluating that risk and if its worth it and i think we are becoming more and more soft.
You watch the 6 nations at the moment. How many of them are truely hurt? Yeah a bit of blood gets spilt, maybe someone gets sent of winded but rarely do they get hospitalised.
Plus, at our school it was a unwritten rule that if you had a fight to settle with someone, you did it on the rugby pitch and the teachers usually turned a blind eye unless it got out of hand!

I'm sorry but I just can't go along with that. We can't just dismiss any changes we don't like with tired old cliches. I have had a long experience in coaching youth rugby and seen far too many serious injuries, including one lad I had coached in the past ending up a quadraplegic at the age of 17. Is that hurt enough for you? If the game doesn't tackle risk head on (pardon the pun) then it will be done for us, and we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves.

As for your unsupported claims for the 6 Nations, on what do you base that? One of the main reasons, in my opinion, for the lowering number of weeks spent out of the game with head and brain injuries is the introduction of Head Injury Assessments, particularly in light of the fact that players are not given an option. Like most, I would often fight to stay on the field of play, and I wasn't often right about that. Every single study, without exception, into the frequency of injuries in the game has found that they have increased significantly since the advent of professionalism, some claiming they have almost doubled. Periods between injuries have at the same time reduced. Simply put, each player will be injured considerably more often. If none of this fails to concern you, then I'm not sure what it will take.

 

[Barry White]

I'm sorry but I just can't go along with that. We can't just dismiss any changes we don't like with tired old cliches. I have had a long experience in coaching youth rugby and seen far too many serious injuries, including one lad I had coached in the past ending up a quadraplegic at the age of 17. Is that hurt enough for you? If the game doesn't tackle risk head on (pardon the pun) then it will be done for us, and we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves.

As for your unsupported claims for the 6 Nations, on what do you base that? One of the main reasons, in my opinion, for the lowering number of weeks spent out of the game with head and brain injuries is the introduction of Head Injury Assessments, particularly in light of the fact that players are not given an option. Like most, I would often fight to stay on the field of play, and I wasn't often right about that. Every single study, without exception, into the frequency of injuries in the game has found that they have increased significantly since the advent of professionalism, some claiming they have almost doubled. Periods between injuries have at the same time reduced. Simply put, each player will be injured considerably more often. If none of this fails to concern you, then I'm not sure what it will take.

Rugby is a contact sport there WILL be injuries life is one big risk. Just crossing the road is a huge risk. We have to live and take risks (some more than others) Name me a sport or physical activity without risk?

 

[Midwest]

Rubbish. Nothing can even justify an accident.

 

[YoungScud]

Rugby is a contact sport there WILL be injuries life is one big risk. Just crossing the road is a huge risk. We have to live and take risks (some more than others) Name me a sport or physical activity without risk?

Again, cliches. We don't go around trying to have accidents. We normally look before crossing the road. This isn't the same thing. Injuries in rugby are increasing and severity with them. If you consider the safety of young rugby players a price worth paying, and any changes designed to prevent injuries simply an example of the nanny state, I can only assume you've never saat by a phone waiting to hear if one of your young charges has a serious injury or not. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, eh?

Now, as to risk, of course there is a degree of risk, but we don't just wait for accidents to happen. We take steps to avoid them. Reducing risk is what has led to fewer accidents in the work place. Why not apply that to sport?

 

[Barry White]

Again, cliches. We don't go around trying to have accidents. We normally look before crossing the road. This isn't the same thing. Injuries in rugby are increasing and severity with them. If you consider the safety of young rugby players a price worth paying, and any changes designed to prevent injuries simply an example of the nanny state, I can only assume you've never saat by a phone waiting to hear if one of your young charges has a serious injury or not. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, eh?

Now, as to risk, of course there is a degree of risk, but we don't just wait for accidents to happen. We take steps to avoid them. Reducing risk is what has led to fewer accidents in the work place. Why not apply that to sport?

Being a father and a grandfather to a large family I have many young charges and worry more when they go to the nightclubs than when they played rugby.
Nobody goes into a tackle to get injured and they do look first too. As for looking before crossing the road we are not machines with parameters to fit before we opperate, we glance estimate speed and distance then either walk or run across.
So I will hold by my OPPINION and and respect yours.

 

[firemanowl]

I was born in NZ and played tackle rugby from about 5. The one consistent thing we practiced was tackling technique all through the age groups right up to senior level. I was lucky enough to represent the NZ Army at senior level and on our first training session after fitness tests was tackling practice.

Biggest thing I notice about rugby now days at all levels is poor technique, players not confident tackling off either shoulder. When players at all levels are trying to put the big hit in they seem to revert to their stronger shoulder, get their head in the wrong position and get injured.

Rather than ban tackling the emphasis needs to be on technique and ensure the basics are taught correctly from a young age. Experiencing tackling at 18 for the first time will lead to more injuries as the impacts will be much harder exposing poor technique. At least if kids have had good coaching by qualified experienced coaches from a young age then once they start to bulk up and the impacts get bigger, good technique is already ingrained.

 

[Paul.M]

This is historical, just read the bullet points below from a Rugby League history site:-

1864 - The first rugby clubs formed in Leeds and Huddersfield, followed by Hull (1865), York (1868), followed by hundreds more in Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire in the 1870s and 1880s.
1876 - Yorkshire Cup competition started for Yorkshire rugby clubs. Soon it attracts bigger crowds than the FA Cup Final.
1886 - Concerned at the growing dominance of the largely working-class northern clubs, the Rugby Football Union introduces strict amateur rules.
1893 - Yorkshire clubs propose allowing players to be paid six shillings ‘broken-time’payments when they miss work due to matches. RFU vote down proposal. Widespread suspensions of northern clubs and players begin.
1895 - Threatened with expulsion from the RFU if they cannot prove their amateurism, 21 leading Lancashire and Yorkshire clubs meet at the George Hotel, Huddersfield on 29 August 1895. They vote unanimously to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (NU) and allow broken-time payments.


So even in 1886 the money does the talking!!!! Both "religions" of Union and League have taken great steps to ensure that players do not injure each other. But each week throughout all the games played at this high level, a few players pick up a bit more than just a bloody nose or a cut above the eye. School kids should play tag rugby to start off with and then be taught how to tackle correctly so not to harm the other players. It is something that is built up in time and no sportsman or women should receive a life long injury.


I've been to a few hundred RL games and seen a lot of hard tackles, seen a lot of men carried off the pitch on a stretcher. Vast majority were accidental, some wasn't?