Playing Proper Rugby Is Against Kids 'ooman Rights.

[youngmafbog]

Gawd Bilmey, you couldn't make it up!

What a load of nonsense.

http://news.sky.com/story/1651698/stop-tackling-in-school-rugby-doctors-say

[Svejk]

We've gone from stiff upper lip to quivering bottom one in 2 generations.

[hc4361]

A mother on the Jeremy Vine show has just said her son got concussion playing rugby at school. Her son was 5'2 and slightly built and one of his form mates was 6'7. Not an even playing field.

[retrocop]

6' 7"?? Should of been playing Basket Ball !!

[viv41]

6' 7" !! That's a big boy for his Mum !!

[Svejk]

Yesterday I read that, according to some academics, reading bedtime stories to your children gave them an unfair advantage over kids that didn't have them. For Funks Sake.

[anotheoldgit]

Wasn't the game developed at Rugby School back in the 19th century, why has it suddenly become dangerous for our kids?

If any sport should be banned, it should be Boxing.

[ToraToraTora]

FF/S we are not good enough as it is, what a load of old pony.

[Cloverjo]

Rugby is dangerous. A friend of my son's severely damaged his back playing rugby at school. There are other sports they can play that don't lead to terrible injuries.

[jackthehat]

Youngsters normally have no way of opting out of school rugby so I think, on balance, I'd agree with this.

It doesn't appear to extend to designated youth teams at Rugby clubs, which is where we get our national and international squads and where those really interested in playing the game go to play properly.

[naomi24]

Practically any sport can inflict damage on the player. My friend broke her ankle playing netball, and another had her teeth knocked out playing hockey. Where does it stop? I'd make an exception for boxing though.

[jim360]

I was forced to play Rugby at school and it never did me any harm in the event, but arguably that was luck rather than judgement. At least one collision sent me spinning through the air and while it was hilarious at the time for anyone watching (and even me when I think back on it), it could just as easily have ended pretty unpleasantly.

I don't think kids tackling in rugby should be banned outright, but common sense should surely apply, no? People who aren't built for it and aren't interested enough should only be playing a minimal-contact version. Those who are interested enough in playing the game seriously, fair enough (and indeed banning it might backfire for those people's future professional prospects).

[bazwillrun]

This is definitely the way forward...wrap kids in cotton wool and produce a nation of nannied soft kids...

no competition, no winners, no losers, no contact sports, no contact games blah blah...lets shield them from life that way they should grow up fine !...

[dannyk13]

Far more serious injuries playing soccer, but haven't noticed any outcry against pupils playing that.

[naomi24]

svejk, //Yesterday I read that, according to some academics, reading bedtime stories to your children gave them an unfair advantage over kids that didn't have them. //

Well we ought to stop doing it then! Can't have that! ;o)

[-Talbot-]

Kids can put as much or as little as they want into a game of rugby.
If you don't want to get tackled, get rid of the ball.

[webbo3]

We are never going to win the World Cup or 6 nations again, when that generation leaves school they will have no idea what real rugby is like, what about some head protection.?


Dave

[jim360]

Perhaps it should be framed as part of a wider debate about what sports children play at schools. It was pretty much always football and rugby -- I was fairly interested in badminton (and tennis and cricket, to a lesser extent), but the opportunities to play it at High School were close to non-existent. Instead, weedy kids like me ended up playing sports we didn't like and weren't really built for either. Which is dangerous, no matter how you dress it up, and while risk is a part of sport and a part of life there are risks worth taking and risks that are not. A slightly-built person being smashed into by someone twice his size is not a risk worth taking, particularly if the children aren't exactly playing by choice.

[toalisi]

Can you imagine if the top Rugby countries New Zealand &
South Africa adopted this 'cotton wool' approach to their junior
programmes?

Quite rightly they encourage the contact in Rugby but teach the
youngsters how to tackle - particularly the head position in the
contact. That is the answer!

[Sqad]

Yes....it can be dangerous.
Yes...there are many injuries including paralysis, but the latter is very rare.
The suggestion that schools should ban tackling is a non starter........boys of middle teenaged years do not want to play " touch rugby."
When they leave school and join a Rugby Club and have 18 stone props running at them on the angles, for the first time, that would be far more dangerous.

No, it won"t wash.

[mushroom25]

in practical terms, schools giving up proper contact rugby will have much more to do with fending off litigation.
http://howe.co.uk/student-rugby-player-receives-damages-for-injuries/