Sunday 31 August 2014

Grass roots rugby coaches defend the game after a leading public health expert ...

Grass roots youth rugby club coaches defended the sport after a leading scientist argued it must change “completely” to keep children safe.


Leading public health guru Allyson Pollock urged the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), to campaign against the sport arguing its “violence is not ancillary”.


Prof Pollock, of London’s Queen Mary University, made her claims in a new book – and she says there should be a tightening of rules to stop children being exposed to the risk of serious injury.


Her claims come in the wake of a string of serious injuries to players in recent years, with Blues player Owen Williams still recovering from a devastating injury.


Yet youth team coaches insisted that the game was safe for young


Beddau RFC coaches under sevens to under 16s and Coach Leigh Christopher defended the youth game.


He said: “At the end of the day, it’s a contact sport. You can get an injury in any sport. Football players get injured, just as rugby players can get injured.


“Rugby is a community sport and I think it’s great to see children taking part. It has a lot of benefits – it disciplines them, it motivates them, they meet a lot of people and make news friends. It really brings the community together.


“You are going to take a knock in rugby but it’s all part of the sport.”


Jason Halse, coach at Llanharan RFC, which has minis and juniors sides, argued that the sport is safe for children as long as they are coached in the right way.


“It all depends on whether children are taught properly,” he said. “You know that if you don’t hold your head in a certain position when tackling, then there’s the potential for serious injury. But if you are taught properly, by a coach who has played the game, then you are better protected.


“There are too many rules now as it is at the minute. Any more would just bring the game down.”


In her criticisms of the game, Prof Pollock said: “We already know that rugby is a major cause of injury, that far from relaxing the rules we should be tightening them further for children, changing the game completely and allowing it to evolve to a safer form of play.


“If rugby were a new medical drug it would be withheld until its efficacy and safety had been proven.


“We would not want our children to be given medicine to improve their mental or physical health if there was little knowledge of its risks and no attempt had been made to collect data on it.


“Why should rugby, with its harmful side effects, be any different?” Prof Pollock called on the BMA to step in after it dubbed boxing a “totally unsuitable activity for children”. “The BMA could say the same about rugby, but it has so far been silent,” Prof Pollock said.


“If the BMA was willing to stand up to specious arguments over boxing, will it now do the same over rugby?” The BMA said it “doesn’t have a policy” on rugby.


Prof Pollock claimed rugby had become “increasingly dangerous” since it turned professional in 1995.


The WRU said player welfare was “at the heart of everything we do”.


A spokeswoman said: “The Welsh Rugby Union has thorough safeguarding policies and procedures, which are regularly reviewed and updated.


“We are about to roll out an extensive concussion awareness programme throughout the community game and, in conjunction with St John Cymru Wales, we deliver rugby specific first aid courses which club coaches, team managers, match officials and volunteers are strongly urged to complete.”


Teams benefit financially if they have qualified first aiders.


“The WRU is proud of the values and standards represented through rugby and is aware of the benefits of being involved at all levels in the national sport of Wales,” the spokeswoman said.


Tackling Rugby: What Every Parent Should Know, by Allyson Pollock, is published on October 7 by Verso Books, priced £9.99


Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rugby-vickery-talks-welsh-lions-152327766.html


Grass roots rugby coaches defend the game after a leading public health expert ...

No comments:

Post a Comment