Is playing Rugby making our Kids Violent?

Question

We live in a very violent society, if you look someone in the eye is taken automatically as confrontational, I agree that in any society there is a small percentage of people who are naturally violent, but are we compounding the situation by making our kids play rugby where they are constantly pushed in to violence, in every aspect of the game is physical and violent from front on tackle to physical submission, watching the game is like watching two teams having a brawl , allowing our kids to play this game and encouraging them to get more violent. These kids grow up with aggressive and violent mentality because that what they are use to in the rugby field no respect for authority only respect is for Physical Authority.

Answer 1

Rugby teaches discipline and respect. If you can find a rugby player who would behave like a footballer to the referee you'd see him be shown the door from the match and in some cases the club. Yes, rugby is violent, but the violence is controlled.

Answer 2

The whole point of parenting is to acknowlege or even provide an ambivalent environment for your children to eventually make their own choices.  In rugby and sport in general, children are put in an environment whereby they must either play within the safe confines of the game or they can't play at all.  Likewise in life, children are exposed to violence with TV, music, peers and the internet and it is up to us as parents to educate them as to what is an acceptable manner in which to behave.  It is ultimately a parents responsibility to ensure that children are not violent people.  We do our children no favours by pretending that they won't be exposed to violence because they most definitely will.  It our responsibility to acknowlege that they will be exposed to violence and to ensure that in most situations there is a better way in life than to solve problems with violence.

Rugby at the end of the day is a fun game that most little boys love to play because of its confrontational nature but it's not the only reason.  It's up to parents and coaches to educate their children and to not fool them into thinking that rugby is not a violent game because it is.  The key learning point is that there is boundaries on the game and if you play outside of those boundaries then you will not be able to play.  It is up to parents and coaches to also inform children that the confrontational behaviour associated with rugby stays on the field and is not carried on at home or out in society.  This is actually beneficial for children to see that there are two sides of a story, that there are boundaries and that they must choose the right way to go.  I've played rugby all my life (since I was 5 years old), I coach rugby now, I've got a university education and if I'm lucky enough to have a child that wants to play rugby (my little girl doesn't) I'll whole heartedly support them.  Rugby hasn't made me a violent man because I chose not to be that way.  My parents did not make that decision for me.

Answer 3

My son has been playing rugby union since he was six years old. He is now twenty-three and a professional player. Experience has shown me that, in general, players have far more respect for other people, for authority, for themselves than do football players and supporters.

As with any contact sport, there is bound to be some aggression during the game, but, if you feel that it is just a brawl, then you would appear to be missing the point of it.

More than nearly every other sport, rugby is essentially a team game, where you have to rely on your colleagues to support you, and thus it teaches you that, as in life, you cannot do it all yourself.

The amount of gratuitous violence on the rugby pitch tends to be a lot lower than other sports of a similar nature, and this also applies to the supporters and followers.

If children and adults can get rid of their aggression, legally on the pitch, by running hard, playing hard, tackling, and employing satisfying skills, they are much less likely to want to be involved in physical confrontation away from the game.

Answer 4

NO! As another answerer said, do you advocate keeping them inside, where they can play video games where they shoot down other people in high definition graphics? I'll tell you that the kids who are likely to be violent are those that have nothing contstructive ( like playing sports) to do... that leads them to pick up a gun, drugs etc.. At least rugby teaches children respect for the rules! Keep in mind rugby has very strict rules about tackling etc.. It's not like people don't get hurt... but it's not nearly as violent as, say gridiron or boxing. Well, that's my answer... now go shoo some kids off you lawn!

Answer 5

What total nonsense.

You will notice in England it's not rugby players or supporters who are ever a problem, it's footballers.

Rugby does not teach respect for physical authority at all.

If you are being shown this somewhere you need to change clubs, but I seriously doubt it's happening anywhere.

Agression on the field is fine and part of the fun.

Answer 6

Firstly after playing this game for 25yrs then coaching a further 5 yrs and coaching juniors in  aussie rules for 2yrs i think gives me some authority to answer your question in 25yrs of playing i only suffered 2 injuries and neither was a violent act, as for rugby union it is more widely played in our university's were tomorrows scholars are taught , one of the worst occasions i recall was at a junior aussie rules game were the parents were standing with there beer cans in hand and shouting foul mouthed language and telling there little darlings were to stick the boot in so i would put it to you violence is a result of peer pressure and in fact there is no place in society for it either, so then it would be beneficial if we all could give our selves a lesson and clean up our acts so future generations to come can have a better society, oh an by the way the junior aussie rules game i had the referee have the foul mouth parents removed from the grounds, you know sport is good for developing ourselves, its beneficial for fitness, confidence,character building, and i dare say you have seen violent acts just walking around your city, but only to few do something about it !

Answer 7

Are you advocating that we keep our children at home, away from tv, radio, newspapers and the rest of the outside world so that they won't be corrupted?

Rugby players are taught from an ealy age to respect the referee, that is the authority. Compare the respect rugby refs are given compared to those in soccer, baseball, tennis.

You seem to have a very dim view of those who play rugby. Have you ever heard of a rugby forward named "Weary" Dunlop? Look him up, this is the kind of person any parent would want their child to emulate.

Answer 8

That is quite possibly the worst example of logic I have ever come across.  The main cause of aggression and violence in our society is fear.  Everyone is afraid and so everyone is edgy, as soon as someone looks at you the wrong way, you wonder if he's going to attack you.  My mother, the sweetest woman in the world, has a Tazer!

Look at the Americans, their government has been keeping them afraid of every d**n thing to enter their country in the last 40 years so they all own guns.  They all think they need them because everyone else has one!  Look back 2 months ago to the black man getting shot at his wedding reception by 4 white cops who thought he was going for his gun in his car, when he was really getting cigarettes. They pulled 50 bullets out of the man!! The constant talk on the news of abductions, rapes, murders is scaring the c**p out of everyone and making normal people jumpy.

Watch the news tonight and count how many stories involve something physically bad happening to someone, like a beating or a stabbing or whatever.  

Organised sport is the solution to these problems, not the cause of them.  The more that young people grow up learning a team ethic and setting short term goals for themselves then trying to reach them is exactly how the whole 'me before everyone else' mentality, leading to crimes against people, is going to end.  If you want to put your kid into figure skating instead, go for it, but he's going to get bullied at school and thats going to just perpetuate the cycle.

this is really long....

Answer 9

you cant be serious  there is more violence amongst soccor supporters and indian pakistani cricket than in rugby.  all sport is just a channel to imitate war as one nation or team wants supremacy over the other but it serves to satisfy our natural tendancy for agreesion into providing a playing field with rules to channel it into more harmless fun. It is the law of nature that one person always wants to be top dog leader of the pack and that exists in most animal societies and even more so in humans and politics and religion where people are prepared to kill for their point of view. i would say let people play rugby soccor boxing if it takes violence off the streets. why not look at the more major influences like rap stars glorifying guns and offing people  movies (even superheros) are about the good guys vs bad guys and more often than not there is a major fight scene of some sort.  just dont blame sport for societies violence probs

Answer 10

It works for John Eales, George Gregan, Martin Johnston, Victor Matfield, Keith Wood and every Rugby great.

They've all got extensive criminal records.

Menace to society.

Answer 11

Nope, not at all.  If you think rugby is a "violent" sport then you clearly don't follow the rules of the game.  Like any sport, it teaches kids to behave in a controlled manner under harsh circumstances.

Answer 12

Better on the field than off,  but on the field  my Friend is a lil crazy if you like hit her by mistake she will knock you on your a$$

Answer 13

no way...  

Answer 14

The ethos of rugby is probably unique both on and off the field . You can knock **** out of one another for the full eighty minutes and share a pint or two in the Clubhouse ( adults obviously ! ) looking forward to when you next meet . Kids who play rugby are strictly made to obey the rules and it ends up again with keen competition and a mutual respect . Sounds as if you missed out on something and have never experienced what this game is all about . Suggest you now move on to Chapter 2 in your text book .

Answer 15

N. Rugby is not a voilent game.  It's a contact sport.  I think you are the type of person who needs to take off your blinders and see the world.  Look at violece arund the world, there is no proof that rugby (or another contact sport) is the cause.

Answer 16

Better on the field than off, I say. You can't just take away violence from young men and pretend like it was never there.

Answer 17

Rugby is a sport that teaches respect in Children ... the Referee is referred to as "sir" you have respect for those you play with, and those you play against.

There is aggression on the field, but when i play, i exert so much aggression and energy, that off the field, i'm a calm and friendly person.

comparing to my friends who do no sport, who seem to have a lot of built up aggression and anger, and they decide to go out and fight int he streets on a  friday and saturday night when they have had a few too many drinks. you wont find many rugby players that do this

if anything, we need more kids playing Sports like Rugby, so they can be taught to respect rules, and others, rather letting them sit on their backside as it gets bigger with obesity, while they learn how to shoot people on their playstation and build up aggression, and take it out on the next person they see because they have no respect for rules,unlike those who are disciplined from sports