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Concussions and Protecting Our Players

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
20 rugby league players are potentially launching a class action against the NRL over its concussion protections.

David Riccio in the tele and in the smh this morning
 

RugbyReg

Rocky Elsom (76)
Staff member
20 rugby league players are potentially launching a class action against the NRL over its concussion protections.

David Riccio in the tele and in the smh this morning

it's interesting. It was actually quite jarring watching the origin the other week and seeing how many head high tackles were performed. If it had been rugby there would have been at least half a dozen red cards.

Perhaps our administrations are actually doing the right thing.
 

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
it's interesting. It was actually quite jarring watching the origin the other week and seeing how many head high tackles were performed. If it had been rugby there would have been at least half a dozen red cards.

Perhaps our administrations are actually doing the right thing.
Yeah. At the very least I reckon World Rugby are a lot more scared of the issue than the NRL are
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
it's interesting. It was actually quite jarring watching the origin the other week and seeing how many head high tackles were performed. If it had been rugby there would have been at least half a dozen red cards.

Perhaps our administrations are actually doing the right thing.
Its against the law to give sporting administrators credit in this country mate.
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
On a serious note, I've read that even Football players are at a greatly increased risk of long term brain injuries just by heading the ball repeatedly.

We ought to continue trying to further reduce the risk of brain injury to our players. But, I think it is inevitable that at some point we will have to accept the fact that playing any kind of contact sport will greatly elevate the risk of long term damage to your brain and this will be something that you have to consider and accept as a matter of personal responsibility/choice.

I don't think we can ever eliminate or sufficiently reduce the risk of brain injury from the game.

Defo on-board with suggestions that there should be no contact for minors though. They shouldn't be able to consent to something like this until at least 16-18.
 

I like to watch

David Codey (61)
it's interesting. It was actually quite jarring watching the origin the other week and seeing how many head high tackles were performed. If it had been rugby there would have been at least half a dozen red cards.

Perhaps our administrations are actually doing the right thing.
Literally every tackle would be a penalty in Rugby, a tackler grabs the ball carrier around the throat to gain control,in pretty much every tackle.
They have the rules, they just choose not to enforce it.
It’s mind boggling.
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
Some interesting moves in the US have seen 'full collision' at training limited in both high school and college football (gridiron) programmes.

Youth football contact rules restrict full contact between players including tackling and blocking. Such rules may limit the number of days or hours of full contact practices per week, limit the number of head hits per player and per practice or game, expand non-contact football programs, or delay tackling until a certain age (AAP-Football 2015). Football has the highest risk of injury from player contact, especially concussions, among high school sports (Bartley 2017, Kerr 2011).
Youth football contact rules that limit the number of full contact practices or delay the age at which tackling is introduced and provide proper tackling training are a suggested strategy to reduce the risk of head and neck injuries, especially concussions, among players (AAP-Football 2015, IOM-CSCY 2014, Harmon 2013). Available evidence suggests that limiting the number of full contact practices decreases the frequency of head impact among high school football players, especially linemen (Broglio 2013, Broglio 2016). A study of elementary school football players suggests that players on teams with contact rules experience fewer and less severe head impacts during practice than players on teams without such rules (Cobb 2013). However, additional evidence is needed to confirm effects.
https://www.countyhealthrankings.or...th/policies/youth-football-full-contact-rules

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/136/5/e1419
 

Quick Hands

David Wilson (68)
New Jersey high school football teams could soon have the strictest player-on-player practice contact rules in the history of the sport.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing board of the state's high school athletics, unanimously approved a proposal Wednesday that would reduce in-season full practice-field contact from 90 minutes per week to a maximum of 15 minutes per week.
Pre-season full contact, which is currently unlimited, would be reduced to 6 hours, and the existing ban on full contact in spring and summer would remain unchanged, according to a NJSIAA press release.
If the NJSIAA executive committee approves the guidelines again after a second read in April, the new rules will be enforced starting this summer.
The guidelines were introduced by the New Jersey Football Coaches Association and Practice Like Pros, an organization whose mission is to reduce injury in adolescent football.
The proposal follows a sharp decline in the number of New Jersey high school students enrolled in their schools' football programs over recent years. The New York Times reports that the state saw a 6.8 percent decrease in players from 2016 to 2017, and this decline is widely attributed to safety concerns. Only Colorado, Montana and Oklahoma lost players at a higher rate over that period.
Officials say the goal of the new rules is to increase safety in the sport and not to boost the number of players, but Kevin Carty Jr., a past president of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association's executive board, told the Times the move could boost participation.
"We're not doing this as a recruiting ploy," said Carty, who coaches football at Hillsborough High School in central New Jersey and who has already been following the new guidelines for a few seasons. "It's just we want to keep our kids safe and we want people to know this is happening. By making it a mandate statewide, it can ease the fears of a lot of parents that they won't have to investigate that their coach is doing it the right way."
Some coaches have expressed support for the new rules and believe players can still learn proper tackling techniques since they can practice tackling without actually taking players to the ground. Full-contact hitting involves a player taking another player to the ground, according to the NJSIAA, but players can still practice "thud" contact where they collide but don't go to the ground.
Still, some coaches like Mike McKeown, a coach in South Jersey, have voiced their disagreement.
"When will the lawsuits start for not teaching kids proper way to tackle," McKeown tweeted Wednesday.
"We expect kids to do something for three hours on Friday night but practice that for 15 minutes a week," he said in another post. "I am all for the rule changes to make the game that I love safer but if anyone [thinks] tackling a one man sled and "Thud" is the same thing, stop," he wrote.
Though New Jersey's guidelines would be the strictest, numerous other states have imposed new rules for their high school football programs over recent years. Seven states enforce a 60 minute limit on full-contact in practice each week, the New York Times reported.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...test-contact-rules-in-the-history-of-football
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
WR (World Rugby) to trial (in French amateur comp(s)) reducing the tackle height to waist level. If successful it could be in place at all levels by 2023 RWC (so in effect 2022 as I think there's a prohibition on introducing new Laws etc in RWC year):

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/1...ves-trial-to-limit-tackle-height-to-the-waist

Some other trial Laws in there as well but probably best to highlight & discuss those on another thread.
 

Tex

John Thornett (49)
WR (World Rugby) to trial (in French amateur comp(s)) reducing the tackle height to waist level. If successful it could be in place at all levels by 2023 RWC (so in effect 2022 as I think there's a prohibition on introducing new Laws etc in RWC year):

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/1...ves-trial-to-limit-tackle-height-to-the-waist

Some other trial Laws in there as well but probably best to highlight & discuss those on another thread.

Interesting but I can't see it solving the problem of concussion for tacklers. Most of the recent HIAs and full replacements that I've seen have occurred to the tackler after they've misread the tackle and caught a hip or knee on the scone.
 

The Honey Badger

Jim Lenehan (48)
Put a tackle line on the jumpers and get on with it.

Will change the game alot. Will mean lots more off loads in contact and should be more tries scored.

Might actually improve the game for spectators.
 

Jimmy_Crouch

Ken Catchpole (46)
Majority of concussions occur to the tackler not the tacklee. Maybe we should look at playing in collision shorts (the pants you see them wearing at training with padding over the hips etc).
 

half

Alan Cameron (40)
Huge article in the smh will copy just the opening.

Doctor Bennet Omalu, the medical pioneer who discovered the first cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, predicts contact sports such as rugby league, rugby union and AFL will cease to exist within the space of a generation due to the health hazards associated with concussions.
Omalu also believes children should be banned from playing contact sports until the age of 18 due to the risks associated with concussions.


https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/co...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1565480059
 

liquor box

Greg Davis (50)
Huge article in the smh will copy just the opening.

Doctor Bennet Omalu, the medical pioneer who discovered the first cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, predicts contact sports such as rugby league, rugby union and AFL will cease to exist within the space of a generation due to the health hazards associated with concussions.
Omalu also believes children should be banned from playing contact sports until the age of 18 due to the risks associated with concussions.


https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/co...=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1565480059

What he says makes sense, but I doubt contact sport will ever stop.

Look at Boxing/UFC, it could easily be banned, and then two blokes decide they want to fight each other, and they have mates who want to watch and hey presto, you have fighting again.

I think mankind is programmed to have an interest in physical battles between two or more people, it is a tribal thing programmed into our DNA as a survival mechanism, it helps us decide who we can challenge and who is a threat to us.

Until it is proven that every single person who plays a given sport will suffer later in life there will always be people willing to take the risk. For many athletes contact sport is the only way to get ahead in life.
 

Tex

John Thornett (49)
On 29 August Dan Biggar was clattered by Samu Kerevi and left the field concussed after a HIA, but reportedly didn't experience continued symptoms two days after the match.

10 days later, he takes the field and is knocked out again contesting a high ball. He manages to walk off but the incident prompted Jerome Garces to immediately stop play and call for medical help.

One to keep an eye on. Hopefully he's given all the opportunities to recover completely, particularly with the high pressure matches about to start. Wales would be relieved that Patchell appears a ready replacement, should Biggar not recover in time.
 

Strewthcobber

Mark Ella (57)
On 29 August Dan Biggar was clattered by Samu Kerevi and left the field concussed after a HIA, but reportedly didn't experience continued symptoms two days after the match.

10 days later, he takes the field and is knocked out again contesting a high ball. He manages to walk off but the incident prompted Jerome Garces to immediately stop play and call for medical help.

One to keep an eye on. Hopefully he's given all the opportunities to recover completely, particularly with the high pressure matches about to start. Wales would be relieved that Patchell appears a ready replacement, should Biggar not recover in time.

Saw this pop up again. Biggar was concussed for a third time against Ireland, and then (somewhat amazingly) lined up against France two weeks later.

He was assessed by a concussion expert, but for mine it once again brings into question how much everyone involves really cares about concussion safety.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-call-world-renowned-concussion-17782423
 
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