Rugby: Do Or Die, A Schoolboy Look At The Injury Crisis

Rugby is becoming too hard. This is the message that is being put across at the moment, rugby commentators are saying that rugby now isn't about the game. They say its now all about the hit. Hurting your opponent in the tackle. Making good TV.

Rugby players are getting bigger, granted, but isn't this just natural progression. Isn't this going side by side with other, positive things, like an increase in how long we live. Darwin would be turning in his grave with the thought that we are treating this natural progression like a wet dog at the dinner table: he is there, and if we are honest with ourselves he isn't going away, but we are trying our hardest to make him go away.

I recently read an article in which the journalist said that he didn't want his son to play junior rugby, he said that even in junior rugby the tackles are too hard, that the game is too dangerous and that injuries are now a part of the game. Well I find that I have to disagree with him.

I think that my opinion is rather valid, as I happen to be a junior rugby player with my local team, and while there are currently injuries such as broken arms and knee cartilage problems, they are not caused by rugby, and more caused by youthful night time shenanigans. 

Yes, I have been out injured in the past, but this is not due to the force of the game, but rather to do with my inherited flat feet, which puts extra pressure on my legs. Thanks mum.

And if an injury does occur due to the game, may I put forward the idea that it is not due to violence of the hit, but due to poor technique in scrums and rucks. Poor technique can put pressure on a multitude of bones and muscles, such as the back or neck, which can easily be injured when a scrum collapses. Things such as a bent back can also put undue pressure on the lower body as well. As my club physio will be more than happy to tell you.

Maybe we should even start to blame the game itself. Naughty game! Any coach worth his salt will want his defense to drive a player back 5 yards when he tackles him, and not let the attacking player gain a few extra yards. Any defensive player will want to put the fear of God into the opposition attack, and make his opposite man think twice before running at him.

So let's stop wrapping our players in cotton wool, they are big lads, and im sure they can look after themselves quite nicely.