Safety first as small minority would prevent kids playing rugby

Figures released by the Irish Rugby Union Players Association (IRUPA) yesterday indicate as many as eight of their members would not encourage their children to take up the game now or at some point in the future.

The body has surveyed their membership in the wake of the recent move by a group of medics in the UK to seek the elimination of tackling from the game at schools level for safety reasons.

Approximately 50% of the players responded. IRUPA is the union voice for up to 260 Irish rugby players, ranging from those in the provincial sub-academies and through to senior international level on the men’s side, as well as female players in the sevens and 15s versions of the game.

Predictably, 99% of those offering their views disagreed with the medics’ call and, while 97% also expressed a willingness to have their offspring take up the game, the fact a small minority would not is indicative of the concerns around the general safety of the game at present.

“You could focus on the small minority, but 97% of our members would encourage their kids to play rugby so I don’t think that’s overly concerning,” said IRUPA CEO Omar Hassanein. “I can’t speak for their reasoning, but there is a bit of a fear campaign out there that is maybe having an impact.”

Hassanein pointed out far more children are injured globally from playing in unstructured environments than in those such as rugby and claimed that law changes drafted by World Rugby and extra focus on the coaching of tackling technique have already made the game safer.

“It is important to focus as well on the fact if we change the laws too much then it will steer kids away from the game,” he said. “I have been lucky enough to forge a 30-year career out of this game and it gives you so many social and general life skills.”

Yet the safety debate continues to rage. Concussion has become a particularly hot issue, driven in some part by better awareness and diagnoses that are helping to drive up rates of incidence, but the overall injury profile of the sport has also come under the microscope.

World Rugby published a child safety survey in August of last year, undertaken in the UK, which revealed that 92% of the parents of children between the ages of seven and 18 who gave their views felt the benefits of their children playing sport outweighed the risks associated with it.

The global governing body also convenes an annual medical conference, which Hassanein and other IRUPA officials attend, and he suggested yesterday rising concerns over general rugby safety were not in keeping with the published research.

“There is a misconception on injury rates among the general public. The research suggests that they are actually remaining stable or maybe even going down. Laws have been changed and the coaching of tackle technique has improved, but that has been countered maybe by some of the media focus.”