The Speculator wrote:
Excellent post. There is a group action by over 200 rugby union players that's due in the High Court in April/May, I think. They are suing World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union over concussions and head injuries. The outcome of that case will have major implications for how rugby league moves forward.
But I agree with you that the game we love is in danger of disappearing. The whole 'head contact' thing opens up a can of worms regarding gamesmanship too. Any player who feels the slightest contact on the head is now going to stay down, causing the referee to stop the game, and the video ref to look at a slow-mo replay that makes the 'incident' look much worse than it was. Add in fans going "Oooooohhh" every time it's shown on the big screen, and the inevitable is going to happen. 2024: Year of the Disciplinary.
Sadly, for me that ship sailed some years ago. SL is so poor compared with NRL that the gap is the biggest that it's ever been. I enjoyed watching the world cup games at the HJS, but I'm really struggling to raise enough enthusiasm to get off my backside and into a stadium to watch a live SL match, given the poor product that SL has become.
