Doctors urge schools to ban tackling in rugby

philip2009

philip2009

philip2009

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More than 70 doctors and academics are calling for a ban on tackling in rugby matches played in UK and Irish schools.

In an open letter to ministers, they say injuries from this "high-impact collision sport" can have lifelong consequences for children.

They argue two-thirds of injuries in youth rugby and most concussions are down to tackles and urge schools to move to touch and non-contact rugby.
Supporters say rugby builds character and other forms are less challenging.

The concerns have been raised as a seven-year programme headed by the Rugby Football Union is on target to introduce rugby to a million children in state schools across England.

The RFU's programme, which began in 2012 and is running until 2019, has so far reached 400 schools, with 350 to follow.

'Fractures and dislocations'

But, in their letter to ministers, chief medical officers and children's commissioners in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, doctors say the risks for players aged under 18 are high.

They say many secondary schools in the UK deliver contact rugby as a compulsory part of the physical education curriculum from the age of 11.
"The majority of all injuries occur during contact or collision, such as the tackle and the scrum," the letter says.

"These injuries, which include fractures, ligamentous tears, dislocated shoulders, spinal injuries and head injuries can have short-term, lifelong and life-ending consequences for children."

Full article ...
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My experience of schoolboy rugby is that kids will avoid putting themselves in danger. They aren't going to tackle if they think they'll get hurt - they will tackle if they think it's relatively safe - depends on the specific situation during play. I used to get more cuts and scrapes from football than rugby

In all my years of PE classes I can only think of one occasion where someone got seriously hurt, and that was a broken collar bone because of a collision in a football match.

I'm really dubious about the "danger" of playing rugby at average schoolboy level and would like to see specific figures.

EDIT:

Perhaps I should add, by "not tackle" I mean tackling but not "full blooded" tackling.
 
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You had the opposite experience to me then, even in 6th Form we were playing against schools that had Samoans/Fijians on their team and we'd all do everything we could to injure one another. It was great fun.
 
I remember playing rugby at school one time, the "big" lad ran from one end to the other. Like a rhino on steroids. Nobody was going to try and stop him, apart from the "small" kid who stood his ground.
It all got very messy and an ambulance was called.

I always did prefer table tennis.
 
What is it these days and this ****ing obsession for wrapping kids up in cotton-wool?

We played rugby at most for an hour a week (usually a double PE period), as far as I can remember nobody ever got seriously injured past the odd black eye, broken finger or twisted ankle. After school we did insanely stupid **** on our BMXs without helmets or pads every day of the week, I can still remember using tweezers to pull gravel out of my chin, knees and elbows with the TCP readily at hand. I can also remember nearly drowning after claiming "Yep, I can jump that canal easily. Watch this!" And yet we all survived.

We played army with pellet guns and used half-enders for grenades. It hurt, but again we all survived.
 
There was a kid in my class who would run away from the ball when it was passed to him for fear of getting completely wiped out if he touched it :p

Rugby was an excuse for unpunishable violence in our school, was good fun most of the time :D
 
I agree with the article. OP, your experience might differ but your experience is relatively small. The stats presented from collective experience is contrary to your observations.

Let's be honest, rugby tackles, at novice levels in particular, can be completely debilitating for life. I think the medical advice is spot on. HOWEVER, if the advice is followed then surely we can liss goodbye to a national squad and any professional level of the sport in this country?
 
Malevolence said:
We played army with pellet guns and used half-enders for grenades. It hurt, but again we all survived.
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You have just blocked out the memory of the real carnage and the fallen comrades you had to leave behind. Poor little Timmy, one more week until his tour was over.
 
Is this like the concussion thing that the NFL had recently?

I played rugby from 7-25, had a few injuries but that's all part of the game.
 
And in 10 years time we will be at a loss to explain why our national rugby team is no longer competitive.
 
I don't think tackles should be banned in rugby at school but at the same time I believe participation in what is a dangerous sport should be totally voluntary for the pupils. If the kids don't want to be in that kind of environment then they shouldn't have to.

Maybe schools could run two rugby programmes - contact and non-contact.

scorza said:
Another policy to emasculate the male population of this country :mad:
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Yeah, having concerns about kids health is "trying to emasculate males" :rolleyes:

Don't be so melodramatic.
 
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Just do what they did when I was at school. Early years you tuck a towel in and build up from there.

Yes injuries happen - in all walks of life. My brother had quite a promising amateur rugby and cricket career, playing at county level. Then a bad tackle dislocated his shoulder and that was it, it never stayed in the socket long enough any more.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Yeah, having concerns about kids health is "trying to emasculate males" :rolleyes:

Don't be so melodramatic.
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Of course it is - boys need to be toughened up physically and mentally to prepare them for the rigours and harshness of the real world, which is a considerably worse place than it was when I was at school (thanks cultural marxists :mad: ). We can't wrap them up in cotton wool - the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton after all.
 
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Pretty sure my school only had touch rugby, didn't stop kids from kicking the crap out of eachother at lunch time though...
 
We had a Welsh PE teacher and I was the big kid. He used to froth with joy everytime I got the ball and inevitably scored. Yes it was always a smaller kid that tried to stop you the most.
 
RoboCod said:
I agree with the article. OP, your experience might differ but your experience is relatively small. The stats presented from collective experience is contrary to your observations.

Let's be honest, rugby tackles, at novice levels in particular, can be completely debilitating for life. I think the medical advice is spot on. [B}HOWEVER, if the advice is followed then surely we can liss goodbye to a national squad and any professional level of the sport in this country?[/B]
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Exactly, if you're only learning contact skills at the age of 18 you're going to be significantly behind every other rugby playing country for quite while.
 
Never had any problems in school rugby. Didn't ever try out for the school team, though, I guess that was a bit more serious so injuries would be more likely.

Worst PE injury I had was a badly bruised thumb from playing cricket, during a PE lesson, and the school didn't have enough right-hand gloves (state school under Tory gov't, ofc) so was batting one-gloved.

My son, age 6, plays at the local rugby club. I don't actually much like the sport myself, but I think it's really good for kids to be involved in it. A really friendly setup.
 
If people think its dangerous, make rugby lessons contact by default with an opt-out option for the kids that dont want to do it, they can spend the lesson doing cardio drills or something.

This way there is no escape for the lazy kids.


I played rugby and enjoyed it. I did probably 4-6 hours a week through school and saw only one or two injuries which to be honest were the fault of negligence more than anything.
 
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