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Sometimes I get so frustrated I could… well, I could punch someone. Be honest, how many of you have felt that way at one time or another? But, like me, you know if you do, you could end up facing criminal charges.
You can though get away with it in a boxing ring if you’re good enough. You can even earn money for doing it – in some cases millions of dollars provided you can hit someone hard enough with your fists to knock them out. Now that’s okay.
That’s a sport known as boxing where combatants climb into a small canvas roped ring wearing weighted gloves and mouthguards and proceed to pound each other with their fists. One of my all-time favourite athletes, Muhammad Ali, was a boxer.
Now I need to point out early I am not advocating violence in any form. I find violence abhorrent is most cases. But, and it’s a big but which I’m sure will provoke fights – verbal ones of course – I can understand and accept it happens on a football field.
Just consider the gladiatorial nature of the contest, the personalities of the individuals in the battle and the differing roles they play for their side to win.
And before you point the finger and call me a dinosaur, I know attitudes have changed a great deal over the last 20-odd years. I know what was acceptable in the ’80s and ’90s, is not acceptable now.
But seriously, has rugby league lost the plot by introducing one of its biggest rule changes in over 100 years – one punch and your off – as a knee-jerk reaction to an unsavoury incident in a recent Origin game?
The game’s new administration, now under the guardianship of Welshman David Smith, who I understand didn’t have a strong rugby league upbringing, is keen to clean up the sport’s image.
He’s keen to promote the game as a clean, healthy option to sell to mum’s of young kids who could otherwise be turned off by players punching each other in the head like the Paul Gallen affair when he belted Nate Myles in face in the first Origin game in Sydney.
The much-publicised incident not only gave rugby league a decent black eye but also outraged some community groups.
So saturated was the media coverage of the incident, it forced worried officials to introduce the controversial one punch and you’re off rule without enough thought or consultation with senior players and coaches.
I can tell you I’ve witnessed some wild brawls in my time covering rugby league. In fact, they were commonplace every Sunday afternoon at Lang Park or at Norths home ground- more often referred to as Bashup Park. Fortunately, the days of “anything goes” are gone.
I was at Lang Park the night NSW firebrand Les Boyd decided to take out Queensland’s ball playing forward Darryl Brohman by smashing his jaw into a million pieces in a State of Origin game. That ended up in court with Brohman being awarded compensation damages for his horrific injury.
I can recall dozens of instances where players were ko’d behind the play or off the football with illegal tactics designed to take out a play maker by those whose job it was then to be cheap shot merchants.
South Sydney great John Satller had his jaw broken by foul play in the 1970 grand final. I also remember, as a teenager, going to Brookie Oval to see my team Manly play one Sunday afternoon when their international forward Ken Day had his head taken off his shoulders and his jaw broken by a Parramatta player.
Thankfully, rugby league has come a long way since those bad old days of square ups and cheap shots.
Today, with the high levels of scrutiny through video replays, players can’t get away with illegal, dirty, foul tactics and the thug element is no longer a part of rugby league like it once was.
Which brings me back to the “biff” and the argument for and against and whether this new rule is potentially more damaging to the game than a player copping a whack on the chin because of a rush of blood .
Very few bad rugby league injuries are a direct result of two players having a punch up.
The modern game is too fast for players to get involved in all-in brawls. Running scuffles or spot fires usually only last one or two blows and it’s back to the football.
If an incident is bad enough, and by that I mean a player is king hit by a rival or taken out of the game by dirty play, then the last time I looked, the rule book still allows the referee to send the offending player off.
Players have been throwing punches in rugby league since 1908. I dare say they’ll continue throwing them as long as the sport survives and is played with such intense ferocity that the major intent is to smash and bash your opponent into submission with physical aggression and brute force.
That’s how rugby league is played. It toughness and attrition is as much a part of the game as is the skill of those play it.
You can’t have one without the other. I understand the concerns of those who want to rid the game of the big punch, but it is far less prevalent now than it ever was.
Look, the last thing players want is their game made softer.
Young North Queensland forward Tariq Sims who has bravely battled back from two broken legs, spoke for a majority of NRL players recently when he tweeted this to his 8500 fans: “Wow 1 punch and your off? Interesting… So when do we play in heals (sic) and a skirt! #gamehaschanged #surpriseitsacontactsport #nonono.
Players accept, reluctantly, that high-tech equipment has made them stronger, more powerful athletes that some changes such, as eliminating the potentially dangerous shoulder charge, had to been made for their own safety.
However, most would prefer it was still part of the contest because they know the excitement such massive collisions creates for fans who love it – just like they love seeing the odd “stink”.
The players themselves readily accept the game’s brutality and the risks they take when they run onto the field.
They’ll tell you to your face it is one of the aspects they love about playing rugby league. They believe it’s what sets their game apart from other sporting codes. For many, it’s what drew them to play rugby league in the first place.
The vexed question facing those charged with governing the game and the rule makers trying to satisfy parents of young children looking for a sport they can play, is where do they draw the line?
Right now, I’m not so sure they know the answer.
The media storm whipped up by Gallen’s ugly two-fisted assault on Myles’ fortunately granite-like noggin in Origin I, has them trying to suddenly appease critics while at the same time upsetting others who support the game.
Is diluting something that has been part of the fabric of rugby league since day dot with a rule which is clearly not only exploitable but which we saw from the all-in brawl in Origin II a joke, the right solution?
If Brent Tate can go to the sin bin for getting his head punched in and Greg Bird – a true league hard man can be binned for just being an onlooker trying to calm the situation and not throwing a punch – isn’t something very wrong?
Tate pushed Gallen over in the ruck in a bid to get a quick play the ball. He probably should have been penalised just as Gallen should have been sin binned in the Sydney game.
Both errors made by the same two referees have dug a hole for administrators struggling to get it right.
For Tate to end up in the bin after NSW forward Trent Merrin used his face as a punching bag when he didn’t appear to even be looking at him, was a disgraceful decision.
I have no doubt the one punch and in the bin rule is an over reaction to senior Shayne Hayne and Russell Klein – who I am hearing my not get the series’ decider in Sydney – failure to take strong enough action against Gallen in Origin I.
Faced with an all-in brawl scenario in State of Origin II in Brisbane the same two referees, this time under even more pressure, got it wrong again.
They sent two players to the bin who clearly should have stayed on the field.
In doing so they reduced the Origin contest to 11 on 11. Next time it could be 10 on 10 or even 9 on 9!
The last thing rugby league wants is for it’s jewel in the crown to be ruined as a spectacle or a contest because of the emotions or frustrations of a few players who swing a few punches.
The main argument has always been if kids see the stars doing it, they’ll emulate their idols when they go out and play.
Surely though it’s their parent’s role and also their responsibility to pull them aside and explain to them that it’s not acceptable for them to fight or throw a punch on the field and for their junior coach’s to reinforce that as well by standing them down from games if they do transgress.
Education is always the best teacher. In the meantime, if a couple of super fit, strong players conditioned to take heavy knocks want to throw a few punches in the heat of battle, let them, and let the referees take care of it on the field and get on with the game.
After all, that’s the way it’s been for 105 years.
The Roar has published 680 articles from Wayne Heming during his time with AAP. Now a freelance journalist, we welcome ‘Ticker’ to the site with his 681st post – a Roar opinion article.
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