Re: Corey Johnson & others : Wed Jan 27, 2021 9:09 am  

KaeruJim wrote:

The refereeing in the Cats game was bordering on negligent at times; but it could and should have been done better within the existing rules of the game.

Agree re, shoulder charge - I miss them. It isn’t the notion that’s the problem, it’s when the shoulder is applied to the head which is foul play anyway. That one is a case of baby and bath water for me.

The Leeds - Canterbury WCC game comes to mind. SBW was immense and that’s what you want to see.

There is a bubbling issue over head injury, and it could likely get worse. Rugby of either code is a contact sport and head injury happens - the majority of the time concussions are unintentional and you can’t just legislate them out of the game. Sometimes it’s poor technique by the ball carrier actually (e.g. turning back to opposition line and pressing on, putting the defender behind the head).

It’s just a balance isn’t it of making the game as safe as we responsibly can, whilst still having a contact sport at all.

I agree, it's contact sport, and it's brutal at times. After Newman's awful injury, I wouldn't change the way tackles around the legs are made. Head injuries are a different case though. Yes, many can be accidental, but in my view, many more are lack of discipline and fatigue. I think the risk of red cards being more viable and longer bans will have a much better effect.

We need to protect the players, but also the game. If too many come out with brain injuries and concussion issues, surely it will have a detrimental impact on the future of contact sports! We don't need the RFL being sued out of existence.

Re: Corey Johnson & others : Wed Jan 27, 2021 10:34 am  

exiledrhino wrote:

I agree, it's contact sport, and it's brutal at times. After Newman's awful injury, I wouldn't change the way tackles around the legs are made. Head injuries are a different case though. Yes, many can be accidental, but in my view, many more are lack of discipline and fatigue. I think the risk of red cards being more viable and longer bans will have a much better effect.

We need to protect the players, but also the game. If too many come out with brain injuries and concussion issues, surely it will have a detrimental impact on the future of contact sports! We don't need the RFL being sued out of existence.

Agree that the referees (and players) could take even more care with head injury and prevention in-game, but I don't think you can ever make RL safe - not without sacrificing the nature of the whole sport. It's more a question of how safe, and with which compromises to the game. So, for example, we could have any concussion injury leading to immediate and permanent substitution from that game. We may well have to change the contact rules for juniors coming through. Regular testing of all players for symptoms (at more cost).

If you think about it, even ordinary tackling could be considered inherently risky in terms of brain trauma, if those collisions are significant and constant. You get jolted every time a collision happens - it's not beyond reason that this repetitive collision activity could accumulate into significant brain injury over time.

Ultimately, wanting the game to survive won't carry any weight at all if the evidence shows that players have an x percent change of dying or serious health conditions as a result of playing. Parents won't allow children to play; schools certainly won't want to be involved if there's any risk of safeguarding issues; insurances will be difficult and so on.

Seems to me our society doesn't deal with risk terribly well on the whole, and so I can see there being further changes ahead for RL. That might well be for the good, but it will possibly be a challenge to keep it recognisable, I don't know.

I'm going to be contentious again, but we all know how many head knocks Rob Burrow has taken in his Leeds career. I'm finding it hard to believe that his current condition is purely coincidental (although it could be). This is a hugely problematic issue for this great sport, and only time (and more research) will tell.

We are seeing successful legal action being taken by players in various contact sports now, I think we can see the trend. I'm not saying this will be the end of RL but it is certainly an existential issue which will need to be addressed somehow IMO.

Re: Corey Johnson & others : Wed Jan 27, 2021 10:39 am  

Helmets and body armour.

Re: Corey Johnson & others : Wed Jan 27, 2021 12:48 pm  

Litigation is only arising when reports have been covered up or ignored. It's difficult to prosecute for known risk unless there has been anything to mitigate risk to injury recomended through recognised channels

Re: Corey Johnson & others : Wed Jan 27, 2021 6:12 pm  

LeedsLurch wrote:

Litigation is only arising when reports have been covered up or ignored. It's difficult to prosecute for known risk unless there has been anything to mitigate risk to injury recomended through recognised channels

Should that say 'hasn't been anything to ...'?