Do you think rugby should be ban because it leads to...?

Question

...injury and promotes violent behavior in young people?

Answer 1

No never

Answer 2

Absolutely not. Yes, injuries can occur, but we take that risk with anything we do! And it is in a controlled environment, ie on a rugby pitch.

As for promoting violence - no way. Rugby boys often have a pint with the opposition after a match - what happened on the pitch stays on the pitch.

Rugby fans are completely cool with each other, and are allowed to sit next to each other and even drink during games - unlike footie fans (don't get me started).

Answer 3

Great answer Just Me - and so true.  :p

Problem with Rugby is you more or less need to be big to play it.  Big bodies, fat necks, big men, and a lot of grappling and upclose stuff which doesn't seem right.

With football you can play no matter if your small, tall, thin, fat(ish), slow or fast...... football allows skill talents of all kinds to shine through - and is not dependant on physique.

Answer 4

In my experience it leads to people getting very drunk and seeing how many 10p's they can hold in their f******n and the like. I don't think this in any way promotes violence...its just a bit uncomfortable for a couple of days

Answer 5

What about the Armored Rugby (aka American Football)?

Answer 6

No, but I think it should be banned for its obvious latent homo-erotic nature.  They should just go be g*y, instead of channelling their desires to be groped by sweaty men into a so called "sport".

Answer 7

I've been playing rugby for over 20 years and for the first time, perhaps because I'm getting slow and resentful - I'm only 28! - I'm beginning to question whether top class rugby is really such a good thing for the human body.

Since turning professional in the early nineties, Rugby Union has evolved at a pace that has stunned the public in terms of the skills on show and the power and pace that has accompanied this increase in entertainment value. This is my opinion and I'm not about to start a debate that leads to my conceding that Gareth Edwards' try for the Barbarians against New Zealand at the Arms Park in 76 is still the greatest try of all time. The increase in skill level will always be a topic of debate as rugby is a game where brains still count for more than brawn but the two are certainly best employed in unison.

What is not debatable is the fact that this increase in power, pace, the average weight of players and the sheer force sustained on impact has come at a price and we're seeing more and more people being forced onto the sidelines at the highest level in the game to such an extent that the international calendar is struggling to keep up and top club teams are basically obliged to have a squad of 40 top class players in order to survive the physical rigours of a season. There just aren't that many guys who are up to it.

Just click on the BBC website this week and you see that Brendon Cannon and Steve Thompson, until recently the Australian and English first choice hookers respectively, have just retired from the game due to serious neck injuries. Cannon in particular raises an intelligent and honest point :

Cannon criticised rugby union's new scrum engagement laws, for making scrummaging more dangerous.

The new laws require the two packs to go through a four-stage "crouch, touch, pause, engage" process.

"In some ways it has probably brought an element of danger to it because the front row have to be balanced there for a longer period of time, and you have anywhere between 900-1,000 kg behind you," he said.

"You may not get many guys that want to speak out publicly about it, but I think there is a general frustration there."

Add to the more serious career threatening injuries such as neck and back problems of the type that saw England's most capped fullback, Matt Perry, quit the game late last month, the ever increasing list of players with knee, ankle, rib and shoulder injuries that seem to be par for the course and we have to start thinking about what these people are going to look and feel like when they're past 45.

The current generation of middle aged rugby players already suffer from severe arthritis and other circulatory and anatomical problems as a result of playing this contact sport. Most, with the exception of players like Michael Jones, Sean Fitzpatrick, Jean-Pierre Rives, John Jeffrey and Murray Mexted who threw themselves around so wrecklessly that they would probably survive in today's game, would concede that contemporary rugby is a far more physically damaging sport than it was even 5-10 years ago, let alone in the 60s and 70s. In the 60s and 70s players were more likely to come back from tour with damaged faces and scars on their backs from over-zealous "rucking" but this is not comparable to the kind of damage the bodies of people like McCaw (quote "I'll probably finish up in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50 but I don't really want to think about that now"), Burger (currently recovering from a broken neck and looking forward to a return to action as soon as possible) and Betsen (over 100 stitches so far in his head and face alone and still counting) are suffering week in, week out, in the name of what? Sport? Fun? Fitness and wellbeing combined with the cameraderie and 'band of brothers' scenarios on offer when 15 men get together and push themselves to limits of the capabilities of the human body in terms of dishing out and receiving punishment? It's making less sense to me now than it did when I started playing the game aged seven.

The argument that if you don't like it, leave it doesn't stand with me because I love the game. I put my boots on every Saturday and spend a large part of my free time just enjoying memories or dreams of rugby but there's also a downside. I've had four operations on my shoulders, broken my fingers, wrists, ankle, ribs, skull and suffered all kinds of ligament and tendon damage as a result of playing the game. A game I still love. It doesn't make much sense to me but ultimately the limitations of my body and the general sense that I need to be able to walk in able to do my job on Monday have recently acted as a barrier to getting myself into situations that are dangerous to my overall immediate health. I don't believe this is the case at international level anymore. Particularly now that players don't have to get up and go to a job on Monday.

As for the notion that rugby promotes violence in young people, this is nonsense. Rugby is all about controlled aggression and problems with violence in rugby are, as many posters have already said, relatively limited when compared with the problems of violence that have been rife in football for decades. There is no such thing as crowd violence in rugby and ultimately, violence on the pitch, whilst it must be monitored and properly sanctioned, is the least of the problems rugby's organizers need to seriously address at the moment. It's the impact of the shocks received when players are playing within the rules that poses the problem. It's much easier to enforce a rule that says "don't punch" in a professional sport than it is to tell someone like Brian Habana to "slow down" or Paul Wallace to "take it easy".

The question isn't such an outrageous one. My answer is that I don't believe that rugby should be banned but that I believe that upon retiring, proper medical files should be kept on the developpment (and digression) of professional and amateur rugby players and this information be analysed and utilised by the IRB and other governing bodies with an influence on the future of the game in order to make modifications to the laws of rugby in future that not only illustrate a superficial willingness to address health and safety in the sport but also genuinely put the safety of the player first; way ahead of the advertising revenue. Sadly, this is not the case today.

Answer 8

"promotes violent behavior in young people"

Do you have any evidence of this at all?

I have never heard about that before.

Where as football is in the press for this every day.

Answer 9

Rubbish,,Rugby players get battered and get up and get on with it.

Football players get the slightest touch and they are down rolling about as if someone had just cut their legs off.

Do you want to ban football as well?

Answer 10

and in what other sport do you get 30 grown men all calling the little guy in the middle SIR.

rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen, as opposed to soccer which is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans.

i would feel perfect safe taking my 11 year old step-daughter to a rugby match, wearing my leicester top and sitting in the middle of a set of opposing teams fans. could the same be said for soccer?

Answer 11

no it promotes team sport and can be a bit dangerous but then again so is crossing the road in this country

Answer 12

If people are going to ban that sport, they need to also ban football, wrestling and in some areas soccer.

Answer 13

no, because even if u walk on road u may get injured n violent behavor in people depends upon their surrounding they grow

Answer 14

NO! it dosent promote violance, it promotes competitiveness and dedication... as well as givin rich kids in rugby schools somthin better to do wit there time than drinkin an spliff....its no diffrent than any other sport, just harder.............and as for the guy who said u hav to b big to play rugby, he's wrong,im 17, 5'2 an im good at rugby, its all about tecnique,balance and strong constitution not size!

Answer 15

No way, violent behaviour is awesome.

Answer 16

Why they play hockey and soocer don`t they?

Answer 17

One of our problems today is there's not enough controlled environments for the outlet of violent behaviour.

Answer 18

He he - nice question 'Bud', if only for the fact it's drawn so much interest eh :):)

I can't be positive but after a quick look I think it was Rugby '24' Football '2'...?? Go figure :)

As for 'Just Me' and 'Captain' - sounds like you two have issues for another 'category'. Rugby players use that 'upclose stuff' as part of the game, whereas Footballers hug and touch bums when the play has stopped?? Now that's not right and very 'homo erotic'!! - pointless I know, but then so were your comments.

Answer 19

Bud#21 = Girly Man

Answer 20

I think you should be banned from reproducing for making a comment like that cause it leads to me getting into a rage over such a mind bogglingly stupid question

Answer 21

Rugby players and fans are far less agressive than soccer/football fans so I don't know what the problem is. Rugby is about controlled aggression and when you watch a match you only need to see how polite the players are to the referee to realise it is all for fun.

As for homosexual I dare you to call a room full of rugby players g*y

Answer 22

No I think you are mistaking rugby for football. Football should be banned as over paid prima donnas contribute much to the violence in football crowds. Football fans have to be segregated like animals whereas rugby fans can stand next to each other and discuss the game. Having said that I have only been watching the Leeds Rhinos for 39 years but that is what I have found to be the case. Most football fans belong in a zoo but that is an insult to the more intelligent animal kingdom.

Answer 23

Absolutely. we should also ban Soccer because it encourages children to be soft and roll around crying at the first sign of trouble, golf because the ball may injure someone, swimming for obvious reasons should be a no-no, tennis encourages antisocial grunting that may offend a grandparent.

Rugby at least teaches comradeship and believe it or not, some form of fair play

Answer 24

Actually it doesn't promote violence, all the family can go to watch rugby together and come to no harm.

Just look at the happy smiles on the faces of all who are caught on the television while at a match.

Yes the game is tough but not violent, there are strict rules, and you will hear the players are polite to the referee.

Yes, sometimes things get out of hand...

We are already a nanny state, let people at least enjoy sport without being made sissies...

Good question, although, maybe not the answer you were hoping for bud

Answer 25

How does rugby lead to violent behaviour? It builds discipline and team spirit in people. Football teaches violence and bad manners!

Answer 26

Sorry, what world do you live on? Of course not. It promotes a controlled agression in players, perhaps you should go and watch a rugby game, then go into the club house afterwards.

The teams, always cheer the otherside at the end of a match, no matter what level they play at, then once the showers are over, the teams appear in the clubhouse and drink each others fortune and talk about the game, there are never any hard feelings or problems.

Also unlike some sports, football in particular, the sides have a deep respect for the refs and officials, they know if there is any talkback, argument or dissention, then they will either be sent off for 10mins to call down, be pushed back 10 to play another penalty, or worse sent off, which involves a couple of match bans and the club will then deal with that player harshly.

And why just pick on Rugby? What about all those other contact sports which are a lot more violent.

Answer 27

talking a load of cr!! don't suppose you have ever been to a rugby match, the sport that promotes violent behaviour is football have you ever seen a riot at a rugby game, as for the injury`s it is minimal in rugby, in football you only have to look at a player and he fall`s over crying.( from a welsh man)

Answer 28

No I don't think it should be ban ! ! !

Answer 29

What a time waster your are! Rugby does not promote violence! have you ever heard of riot police at rugby games to deal with violent fans? No, but plenty of people at football matches!

Answer 30

No, rugby players are fully aware of the injury risk involved when they play the game. As for promoting voilent behaviour in young people, I don't believe that to be true. On the contrary Rugby promotes teamwork and has even been known to get people of the streets. Example: Ashwin Willemse use to be a gang member in Cape town, but was introduced to the game of rugby - a year later he ran out as a Springbok winger and left his crime related past hehind him.