school rugby

[southbucks3]

Bought the paper today and read this article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 78518.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Having boys, who have both had nasty injuries in the field of late, I can't help but wonder what we are doing it for? My middle son normally tackles safely and as far as possible considerately...there really is no need to throw people around, I have learned this from watching the biggest, strongest kid in the team, who is a fantastic player too, always taking a second to ensure wherever possible the boy he is currently lifting of his feet and thumping to the ground has a gentle landing.
Unfortunately when it gets wet, muddy, slippy and cold, boots start flying backwards, landings are no longer controlled, it becomes harder to move frozen fingers out of the way of oncoming studs.
Then there are always the thugs, that simply spend an hour having the whistle blown on them for inappropriate and violent contact...sometimes before the lad they are jumping on even has the ball or when the ball gas long flown up the pitch. They never seem to be sent off until serious damage is done though!

Perhaps schools should he looking more at calling games off in foul slippy weather?? Sometimes we feel that it's not cancelled, just to prove a point..."look how resilient our boys are, look how they carry on regardless, see how we are making men of them, pushing them against adversity."

One home game last year, where the rain was so cold and the mud so deep, some boys were being sick and others had mud in their eyes, up their noses and deep in their ears. My son cane up to me at half time and queried who was getting any pleasure from the game, he said all the players were hating it, the spectators were hating it, and could barely see anyway, so it was just the coaches, even then the opposition coach queried in a follow up e-mail why the game had proceeded!

So throughout your boys ks3/4 rugby career at school, they have nearly a 40% chance if serious injury across all levels and a 70% chance at top level.
To think I encourage them! Drive them miles, to get a boot in the face or sustain neck injuries equivalent to head on car collisions....why? What's worse is I always feel really proud of them for being so good at this basically stupid dangerous game too.... Gosh I hate myself for that!

[Ladymuck]

It is fairly horrible to read. What seems more frustrating is that at our school at least many injuries occur during the training sessions - far more than in matches so far.

[kenyancowgirl]

As you know, sb3, ds1 had a suspected mild concussion this week from being dump tackled three times in one game, basically dropped on his head. This was against a school where, playing last year, two of our boys ended up in hospital with serious concussion injuries. Having watched ds2 play the same school, it is clear that the issue in this particular institution lies with the coaches and parents - the boys in Y7 were talking about "hammering" our team and "getting them" in a hugely aggressive way - and when we as parents called up on them attempting to dump tackle, the opposition parents tried to say that it was perfectly legal - of course lifting someone up in a tackle is fine, as long as you can control the landing....but in Y7 they certainly cannot.

Accidents definitely happen - but I think good solid training, discipline and adherence to the laws of rugby, combined with an innate sense of sportsmanship (which I know your boys have sb3) should make an inherently dangerous game, less so. Ladymuck, there could be an element of, in a game the boys know how dangerous it is...sometimes in training it can be good fun and natural testosterone takes over as they compete against their fellows - certainly we have had a few pulled/torn ligaments and tendons from boys holding tackle bags for their friends?

But, yes, it is a worry every time they play - and, yes, in spite of this - or maybe because of it - I am so very proud of how hard they try and how well they succeed in it.

[Rob Clark]

Beware the writer who has a book to promote…

A sense of perspective is also needed – the RFU carried out a survey a few years back which concluded that boys playing rugby were statistically more likely to be hurt in the car on the way to or from a match than they were during it.

I cover a lot of rugby, and I also have a DSs who only took the game up last year, at 17 (not allowed to play contact sports when he was younger)! There's no doubt that the game has got faster and more physical, but as KCG says, the key lies in good quality training, discipline and adherence to the rules.

A lot of the problems in school rugby are caused by the discrepancy in the size of boys who mature at such different rates – maybe one thing which could be looked at seriously is the New Zealand approach of playing is size groups rather than age groups… The question of protective gear is a moot point as there is some suggestion that the more protection boys wear, the more invulnerable they feel and hence the more disregarding of their own safety they become. Although mouth guards should definitely be mandatory imo.

That said, in my playing days I had almost exactly the same catalogue of injuries as the author's son – a few broken fingers, a nasty knee injury and a fractured cheekbone/eye socket necessitating a hospital stay. Do I regret playing? Not for a single second.

[Tinkers]

DH played rugby up to his late twenties, loves the game. Did he get injuries? Loads. Broken fingers mainly, but also long lasting damage to his back (he was a prop due to his size).
I did all sorts of sport at school, but not rugby (girls not encouraged to do 'boys' sports at that time at my school).
However I also have a longterm back problem from throwing javelins and a shoulder problem from too much tennis/badminton/spear chucking. Knowing what We know now, would either of us have made the decision not to take part, I doubt it. We both loved it too much.

Physical activity carries risk of injury. Obviously some more than others. If we stop them playing rugby, what next? hockey? I remember one girl getting really badly smashed on the leg by another girl, she was on crutches for weeks.

My sister was knocked unconscious by a basketball and has suffered bad migraines ever since. I was always getting battered and bruised playing basketball (don't believe anyone that tells you it's a non contact sport ).

Just last week DD got a quite a cut just above her eye doing gymnastics in a PE lesson. As far as I know it wasn't even recorded, but until today I hadn't even thought about it.

DD isn't a sporty person as such but goes horse riding every week. She loves it. She knows it is a risky sport, just last week someone else in her lesson fell off after her horse careered through a jump rather than go over it. Very bad fall and an ambulance was called. Will it put her off? No. Her view was she wears a body protector and the woman who fell wasn't.

That being said, if the injuries sustained during school rugby are as bad as reported, then it calls into question the abilities of the PE teachers and coaches to properly teach the children how to play as safely as possible.

[southbucks3]

A sense of perspective is also needed – the RFU carried out a survey a few years back which concluded that boys playing rugby were statistically more likely to be hurt in the car on the way to or from a match than they were during it.

That has to cods whallop....surely? Either that or the parents of rugby playing boys are REALLY bad drivers!

I do think there is a disparity between school coaching and club coaching, particularly with the level of care after injury, this may be because parents are trained as first raiders as well as coaches at club level, so there is a person focussing purely on the child's recovery.
Also as the kids get bigger, there are less and less victims prepared to sacrifice themselves for the honour of the school or club each week and the subs thin out, putting pressure on the boys to play with injury.
I do agree that all sport is dangerous, but there is no escaping the facts, a&e don't call ruby by its proper name at stoke Mandeville...it's called "****** rugby" My son was a goalie for many years, until sports training clashed this year when he took up rowing as well. So finger damage is well catalogued in this house, but would I regret a broken cheek bone and eye socket as a parent...too right, and not for a second, but my whole life!
Son number one is a bit of a looker....when he first started playing, at secondary school, a mum I had only just met gasped st me allowing him on the field, she jokingly called "not the face" when his eleven year old self was being tackled.
Think he is better off rowing.
"Better drowned than a duffer, if not a duffer won't drown"
But I do still feel far more relaxed when he is in view again..... I should not have had kids should I!

[kenyancowgirl]

but as KCG says, the key lies in good quality training, discipline and adherence to the rules.

....We have "laws" not "rules" in rugby!!

You are right about the size/weight thing being one of the issues though - certainly at U13 when playing Rugby 7s there are weight rules in this country - ie up to a maximum of a certain weight (which ruled out some of our players who didn't even appear that big!) That does help when it is purely a rhino smashing into a rhino but most of the injuries I have seen are probably related to poor training or bad discipline - or just bad luck, to be fair.

And southbucks3...the accidents in the car are probably to do with the mother driving and shouting at her son who has forgotten Rob Clarks essential mouthguard....

[Rob Clark]

....We have "laws" not "rules" in rugby!!

Actually only because they were drawn up by lawyers! When the game was first invented in the mid-19th Century it had rules, but 25 years later the 3 men entrusted with codifying the first set of rules were all practising lawyers so they rather pompously decided to call them 'laws'. That's the sole reason.

That has to cods whallop....surely? Either that or the parents of rugby playing boys are REALLY bad drivers!

Not at all, far more people get injured in car accidents than in rugby matches. The point was that you can make statistics fit the agenda you have, and Allyson Pollock's agenda is that she is trying to sell her book. For example, how does one define a 'serious' injury? She appears to include a broken finger in that category – ask how many sport-loving teenagers consider a broken finger to be a 'serious' injury… Not many, I would venture to suggest.
Their mothers might, but that's a different question altogether.

[southbucks3]

Boys as a whole, injured in a car journeys taken as a whole and "serious" injury..yep, most likely true.
Boys travelling exclusively to and from rugby matches and "injury" I maintain....cods whallop! although yes, when half way down the M40 and a tiny voice whispers "mumble mumble mouth guard mumble" it's a good job he opted for the very rear seat in the people carrier!

Rob....question: why is a common cold the kiss of death in man world and a broken finger just a tiny inconvenience?

Not sure I would pay £9.96 for a book to be told what I already know, I may pay it to ensure enough ice packs are available though!

How do all you new to the rugby field at school mums/dads feel about school rugby??

[JamesDean]

How do all you new to the rugby field at school mums/dads feel about school rugby??

Terrified!
(Luckily, he's still managing to dodge the teams by being completely and naturally un-co )

JD