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If Christian Grey is every mini/mod rugby league mum’s billionaire fantasy, then the NRL is the unmarked white van hanging around Abercrombie Street outside Sydney University.
There are any number of grey areas in the laws of the game – stripping the ball, obstruction, blockers, markers – which is why the NRL Referee Guidelines (or ‘Interpretations’) are in place.
In the digital age of slow-motion replays they are a necessary evil in the eyes of many fans, because since the laws were written in 1895 and the game has moved on a bit.
Which brings us to the darkest shade of grey in the game – the shoulder charge.
If a kaleidoscope could exist without colour, then grey pictures of NRL players spinning around would abound.
Since being outlawed three years ago, the shoulder charge has been a difficult rule to police for on-field match officials. If differs significantly from the old-fashioned stiff arm high contact, because in a shoulder charge the bodies hit each other in a collision – which is part of every tackle in the game – yet there is no exposed limb to view contact on the opponent.
With a high tackle the officials would see an arm out in a swinging or tackling motion, and with high contact there is a noticeable and immediate impact on the tackled player’s head. Specifically, the head gets rocked back (with players in an upright stance) or the head’s momentum is stopped in an instant (with players whose body position is nearer the horizontal).
(Of course I’m referring to my experience as a touch judge, where I see a side-on view of the tackle. The two referees have a front-on view which has its own disadvantages and the video referee has the advantage of slowing down the replay to see the point of contact.)
However, the shoulder charge is an entirely different beast. Players from the age of six are taught to tackle with their shoulder, so it is no surprise that we are running into trouble in the year 2015.
The critical point that the NRL has adopted is that, upon contact, where there is no tackling movement of the arm (i.e. the arm is tucked by the side of the tackler) then the impact will be deemed a shoulder charge.
That’s it, black and white. Or is it?
Judging by the charges that came out of the Round 23 matches and the three players who were exonerated by the NRL judiciary, the matter is far from black and white. The entrancing image of Christian Grey and his erotic treatment of his concubine has been replaced by an overweight bald guy in the white van you’re more likely to see on an episode of Law and Order: SVU.
Our problems stemmed from the match review committee’s reluctance to charge the Roosters’ Kane Evans for a spectacular Round 22 hit on the Bulldogs’ Sam Kasiano. A collision which ticked every box for a shoulder charge was deemed outside the scope of the guidelines the committee were presented with, so it was given a ‘written warning’ instead of a grading.
The fallout from this ill-judged circumstance was for NRL CEO Dave Smith to step into territory that even Mark Latham feared to tread – announcing a change of policy via Twitter.
What followed is now history, with Jorge Taufua bracing for collision with Jack Wighton attracting a two-week suspension and the crime sensibly being thrown out the following Wednesday. The same result was seen with the other two players who challenged the match review committee at the judiciary.
I’m not sure where we are with the shoulder charge. The NRL’s hierarchy, the match review committee and the judiciary (comprised of respected former players) need to be using the same guidelines.
My own opinion has been tempered by the tragic death of Queensland Cup player James Ackerman.
I was originally an opponent of banning the shoulder charge, but seeing the lethal impact it can have in a rugby league game and depriving a young family of their father is enough for me to jump into the ‘outlaw’ camp.
If a shoulder charge has been detected then it should be penalised, and that is the end of the section. Coaches, who don’t tolerate penalties in yardage sections of the field where shoulder contact occurs anyway, will stop selecting players who use the ploy and thereby gradually eliminate it.
However, if a shoulder charge results in contact with a player’s head or neck, start with a suspension of 10 weeks and grade it upwards from there. We’ll then soon see the risk outweigh the reward by such a significant margin that players simply won’t take the risk.
As it stands, what are we likely to see this weekend? You can be sure of one thing: there will be charges out of Round 25 and in a fortnight we’re into the finals series, where the stakes are much higher.
The shoulder charge is very difficult to detect by the officials and some are missed every week. Jordan Rapana is suspended because of one and it wasn’t even picked up by anybody on the ground when it happened.
The shades of grey within the shoulder charge have not been coloured black or white. It is still inside a nondescript van with not a helicopter, yacht, or limousine in sight.
In fact, you’re best off not even worrying about Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey at all – go and watch him in the excellent BBC series The Fall.
You’ll get plenty of ropes and vans there, with a lot more than a shoulder charge to make your skin crawl.
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