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I don’t condone violence and I have the same reaction as most people when I see a ‘deliberate cheap shot’ during a game.
And I agree, it should be dealt with accordingly.
But with the latest flare up, involving the Sia Soliola head high tackle, my biggest concern is there will be another knee-jerk reaction to clean up the game even more.
Surely our game has been butchered enough.
Let’s not change the game too much more and leave it as a skeleton of what it used to be.
Luckily these incidents are not a regular occurrence .
But the game being what it is, I’m afraid to say they will continue to happen.
To try to clean the game up too much, so it becomes squeaky, will help to destroy what the game of rugby league is all about.
A tough, sometimes brutal, gladiatorial, body-contact sport.
That’s what it was born and bred to be.
I know the cry is to clean up the game because it will detract parents from encouraging their kids to play the game, and I get it.
When I was a kid and I saw my first game of rugby league I was hooked.
The point I want to make is that even though the parents might want or not want their kids to play ,the kids will decide to do it anyway.
If they really like the game and want to play it, they will.
If they don’t like the game but play it they will get found out and then give it up anyway.
So why should the rules be changed for the ones who don’t want to play?
The game has evolved from it’s humble beginning to the heights it is today. It is what it is.
What is it that attracts people to rugby league?
It’s the going into battle with your mates.
What makes State Of Origin such a great spectacle, watched by millions of people, here and overseas?
I feel part of the reason could be because it resembles the closest version of how rugby league used to be played before all the new clean up rules were introduced.
Thank god the refs are a bit more lenient and still play by some of the ‘old rules’, or turn a blind eye to certain things.
But as hard, tough and as brutal as it can get sometimes I have never heard of one State Of Origin player say he did not want to be there in that arena.
In fact most players would do anything to play a State Of Origin.
Why?.
It’s the going into battle with your mates, being prepared to shed blood and do whatever it takes to achieve victory for you, your mates, your fans and supporters.
It’s been going on since the days of the gladiators.
And you know what, deep down, we love it!
The big brutal collisions, the’ flare-ups’ and the sight of blood.
What really annoys me is when people start saying the game needs to be cleaned up more. As I said before, deep down they love the ‘raw’ version of the game.
The ‘old’ version.
Let’s not change it too much more or it will end up looking like touch football.
I still can’t see why we don’t allow a good ‘clean’ shoulder charge.
What about the old one on one up and under ‘copy book’ tackle, which the crowd used to love and applaud.
What damage did the old flare-ups do?
A few punches thrown,hardly any connecting, and a lot of pushing and shoving and huffing and puffing.
And how many ‘flare-ups’ are there in a game anyway?
It’s usually a way of relieving tension then getting on with game.
And as I keep saying we love it. It keeps the game pumping and alive.
A spontaneous ‘flare up’ has been and will always be part of the game.
And I’m not saying ‘bring back the biff’.
What I am trying to say is let’s not sanitise our game too much more.
Let’s watch and enjoy the game for what it is an what is was meant to be, a body contact sport.
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