Is rugby dangerous for children and should we ban it? Holly Hunter

Against Banning rugby The RFU takes player safety extremely seriously and this is at the core of all the training we deliver to coaches, referees, medics and the players themselves, at all levels of the game.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/full-contact-rugby-too-dangerous-for-schools-health-experts-warn-a6905896.html - A spokesperson for the Department of education.  1) Team sports, such as rugby plays an important part in developing character’ -A spokesperson for the Department for Education.  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/full-contact-rugby-too-dangerous-for-schools-health-experts-warn-a6905896.html  Injury is a inevitable side effect of a healthy lifestyle https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h26.full  (Quarrie et al , 2017). 5) Rugby appears to be lower or comparable to the risks of American football,wrestling and ice-hockey aswel as lower than experienced motor cyclists,pedestrians and car occupants.  https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h26.full  (Quarrie et al , 2017). Teaching players ‘good’ tackle technique is a potential injury prevention strategy-  https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h26.full  (Quarrie et al , 2017).

For banning rugby Win at all costs attitude https://online.boneandjoint.org.uk/doi/pdf/10.1302/0301-620x.66b4.6746681 (McCOY et al, 1984). Permanently disabling in rugby may be rare but when they do occur they have devastating effect.  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9ea9/317466954aa240aa52b139433bfcab1be8e6.pdf (Quarrie et al , 2017)

Conclusion - The tackle accounts for 50-70% of injuries in the game.-Pollock, A. M., White, A. J., & Kirkwood, G. (2017). Evidence in support of the call to ban the tackle and harmful contact in school rugby: a response to World Rugby. Br J Sports Med, 51(15), 1113-1117. Therefore it should be suggested that the tackle be banned from children’s rugby. It could be argued like it has been that by removing the tackle from school rugby may increase injuries later in life when tackling is introduced. However as a study showed the number of children going to play rugby ‘reduced dramatically’ at 18 years old and so perfecting tackle technique for the long term is of little benefit. It is also found that girls are 3/4 times more likely to experience post concussive symptoms than boys. And their has been a significant increase in young girls interested in rugby so this tackle ban would be an even more important ban to introduce at this time. Head injuries have been proven to cause dementia and alzeimers in later life. And rugby has a significantly higher concussion rate than any other youth sport. 

References https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/full-contact-rugby-too-dangerous-for-schools-health-experts-warn- a6905896.html https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h26.full https://online.boneandjoint.org.uk/doi/pdf/10.1302/0301-620x.66b4.6746681 McCOY, G. F., Piggot, J. A. M. E. S., Macafee, A. L., & Adair, I. V. (1984). Injuries of the cervical spine in schoolboy rugby football. The Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume, 66(4), 500-503. https://uobrep.openrepository.com/uobrep/bitstream/10547/622337/3/__akira_RKE_WinchesterResearchRepository_HANDOVERSUMME R2017_Validatingdeposits_Versionsofdepositedarticle_315_White_EvidenceInSupport...originaldepositwithsetstatement.pdf  Pollock, A. M., White, A. J., & Kirkwood, G. (2017). Evidence in support of the call to ban the tackle and harmful contact in school rugby: a response to World Rugby. Br J Sports Med, 51(15), 1113-1117.