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Safe Rugby

Posted on 17th April 2016

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Since this story appeared on the BBC at the beginning of March, there have been a number of related news reports, and quite a stir on Facebook. A lot of the public are not pleased about the idea of kids playing no-tackling rugby.

I do understand that there are real health issues. I myself have a permanent injury from playing rugby (sustained as an adult, though, not as a child), and many people have far more serious injuries from the game.

The thing is that most versions of rugby which have no tackling also have no scrums or rucks. These games are therefore very different to play in, and also to watch. Although (at least so far) the plan seems only to stop kids from playing real rugby up to the age of 18, children will not learn how to play real rugby from playing touch or tag rugby, and this will reduce the number and skill level of people going into rugby as adults.

I really doubt that tag rugby will ever become a popular spectator sport, because no-one really wants to watch such a sport. Rugby League and Rugby Union are very popular spectator sports, and Rugby Union is an important part of the international sports scene.

So let’s be realistic as we discuss the ban on tackling in school rugby: we would be also signing the death warrant for the sport for adults too. If that is what people decide, then fine, but let’s not let the side-effects on the adult sport catch us by surprise.