In 2006, the IRB created a Laws Project Group (LPG), the members being Bill Nolan, Rod Macqueen, Ian McIntosh, Richie Dixon, Pierre Villepreux, Graham Mourie, Paddy O’Brien, and Bruce Cook.
The scope of this committee was to develop rugby laws that …
1. Allowed the ball to be in play longer
2. Created a game for all shapes and sizes
3. Allowed the game to be easier to understand
4. Made it easier to referee.
5. Ensure result was determined by the players and not the officials
6. Reduced the domination of defence over attack
7. Allowed more options for players
8. d stoppages.
As it was noted in Wikipedia: “The problems observed with the current laws mostly revolve around the fact that in practice the contest for the ball is often halted through law infringements. Different referees use different interpretations of the complex laws, resulting in many games being decided by penalty goals awarded by referees for infringements that are not immediately obvious to observers or even the players” – Stellenbosh Laws
Further, there was the questions of money and ELVs:
“The chairman of its ‘Laws Project Group’ no less – admitted as much back at the start.“We’d be very silly if we didn’t realise that, especially since the game went professional, there is a commercial element to the ELVs,” said Bill Nolan back in 2006” – ‘ELVs: It’s McRugby, for cash’, by Andy Jackson
You would immediately think, ‘how dare anybody take on such an esteemed group of gentlemen to challenge their findings’.
Easy, it’s a committee and they are subject to compromise, bias, power struggles and fracturing common sense.
I hope you can see the holes already. They are:
1. Where are the retired representatives from the largest playing union in the world, the English Rugby Football Union?
2. Where are the Irish, Welsh and Argentenenian representatives?
3. The committee is dominated with representatives from countries that favour one style of play (running out wide, and not the tight forward battles (like England and Argentina). Yes I do prefer the earlier, but I must be fair.
4. The committee is dominated with representatives from countries that suffer the most from ‘player drain’ (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa).
After round eleven of Super 14 Rugby 2008, this is how I graded the success of each of the objectives (for the Super Rugby version of ELVs):
– Allowed the ball to be in play longer: PASS
– A game for all shapes and sizes: FAIL, completely. 125 kg Os du Rant would have to loose 15 kg to play today’s game, and would you pick the 75 kg ex All Black wing Terry Wright today?
– Allowed the game to be simpler and easier to understand: PASS
– Easier to referee: PASS
– To have the game determined by the players and not the officials: PASS
– Reduce the domination of defence over attack: FAIL, completely and utterly failed. The domination of the ‘field wide defence trench’ has blossomed with the ELVs.
– More options for players: FAIL, a strong defensive side eliminates the options. See (6).
– Reduce game stoppages: PASS
So I guess I would have to say that the committee has achieved a pass mark (5 out of 8). I also can conclude that the ELVs go along way to transfer the winning of the game from referees to players.
The fact the ELVs have been extensively trialled does give confidence that the exercise has gone from A4 paper to the rugby field successfully, but it seams that is all that it has done.
I would have hoped that the esteemed committee would have uncovered the ELVs flaws. I guess that is what the world wide trial period is for. Let’s hope it is!
I also wonder how much the commercial element of the rugby laws played a part in the choice of laws selected. For example, why was ‘hands in the ruck’ preferred over traditional ‘rucking’. Have the broadcasters said that ‘rucking’ is bad for ratings?
I feel that the fault is not with the performance of the committee, but rather sits with the flawed construction of the committee’s scope.
Remember this quote by Iggy Pop:
“They say that death kills you, but death doesn’t kill you. Boredom and indifference kill you.”
This quote highlights that rugby union greatest sin is to be boring and indifferent.
bob
Guest
Ben, we have sky tv here in the NH, and we see S14 live... two or thee games a week. Mostly on Saturday mornings at 7 or 8 am if tehy come from NZ or Aus, and later in the day from SA (less time difference)... so we're pretty well informed on what goes on in S14. And I didn't think the ELV's contributed much. The 5 meter at scrujm time did, and the 22 kick out changed it a fair bit, but the others were not really beneficial, IMO... and why would we, or anyone who loves rugby rejoice that as you say "No wonder Bob agrees with you, as a NH commentor I doubt he’s seen a single game played under the ELV’s but he know’s that they’re the end of the (rugby) world as we know it! It's exactly that sense that some pro-ELV commnetators have a downer on the game anyway, that makes us suspicious. Why would we join an experiment lauded by those, like yourself, who seem to rejoice in the destruction of a sport?
sheek
Guest
Dexter Williams, Good point about professionalism making physicality a prerequisite. This is counterproductive to one of the planks of the ELVs making them suitbale for all shapes & sizes. Because the game is speeding up, like league, the body shapes will merge. Regrettable, but there you have it.
sheek
Guest
Ian from NZ, A tip - if you think a particular post is going to be long, there's no problem in dividing it into part A, part B, part C etc. In fact, a fellow kiwi Bruce Rankin did a series on captaincy that he presented in instalments. Ian, you write very well indeed. I'm not commenting on the ELVs at the moment because I'm still trying to get my head around them. Another tip - no matter how good you think an article you want to present is, or the topic, most of us have a short attention span, & that includes reading voluminous posts. The trick is to try & keep posts relatively short. You can always serialise them. This is a lesson I'm still digesting for myself!!!
Dexter William
Guest
Yes Zac Please do not censure due to the length of the article. Forum readers can choose to read as much or as little as they want (and we are not killing trees here for paper). Obviously it took Ian a lot of time to write the article, so let's hear it even if he is "totally wrong." As to catering for all shape and sizes, the ELV's got nothing to do with that. The professional era made physicality a prerequisite. Bigger and faster (Lomu) becomes the norm. Fat kids and lanky timbers can still play if they are fit enough. There is no place for players in the professional era to be unfit - period. Smaller wingers are still every bit as good as they are popular: Shane William is the best in Northern hemisphere and Bryan Habana is the best in the Southern hemisphere. What other evidence do you need.
Ian from NZ
Guest
Zac Zavos, could you post the second part of this comment, that is wear the beef was, thanks
JohnB
Guest
Can anyone point me to something put out by the committee that came up with the ELV's explaining the reasoning behind each of them. I've seen from net that there are some videos in which Paddy O'Brien gives some explanation, but surely there must have been an explanatory paper. Similarly, can anyone tell me that I'm wrong in thinking that in the past (back into the 1980's) it was permissible to bring down a maul? Interestingly, back in the 1980's you used to see international forwards who weighed a good deal less than today's 100kg+ norm. No-one seems to talk about the possibility of the ELV's bringing back those players as a positive contribution to the "all shapes and sizes" principle.
Zac Zavos
Editor
Sledgeandhammer & Ben - a gentle reminder to play the ball and not the man please. The Roar is all about respectful debate about sporting opinions, not people's backgrounds. It matters because we don't want The Roar to become like other forums where flaming is the norm. Please be respectful of this. Note: We edited the original post due to length considerations. cheers, Zac The Roar
Ian in NZ
Guest
Ben, Please provide proof on the web that Bill Beaumont was on the committee. Posting on this website is limited to 500 words and I found this out later...
Ben
Guest
I assume Ian that you were the nutter that was banned from a certain NZ rugby forum for your poorly researched rants and blatant advertising of your blog (perhaps that's why the rest of your article got cut off?)? Interesting that you left off one of the LPG panel members to support one of your arguments (which I'll grant are a lot less nonsensical than your posts on the aforementioned forum). Bill Beaumont, former England captain and a RFU representative on the IRB council since 1999 was part of the LPG panel, so that blows, err, a big hole in your first 'big hole' regarding the panel setup. I await more 'interesting' analysis such as checkers/chess comparisons between League and Union, comments on ELV's causing teams to play touch football in the wet, and the loss of 70kg wingers due to the ELV's, amongst other musings of yours. No wonder Bob agrees with you, as a NH commentor I doubt he's seen a single game played under the ELV's but he know's that they're the end of the (rugby) world as we know it!
Sledgeandhammer
Guest
Ian from NZ, you wouldn't be a whinging expat pom by any chance would you? I think it's great that power has been rested from the small minded vested interests of the RFU - it's a global game now, and time to move on. The ELVs have been a great success, and the process is ongoing - that's why we are still trialing them. "This quote highlights that rugby union greatest sin is to be boring and indifferent." Am I missing something??
Davo
Guest
Not sure how you can say the ELVs fail to promote rugby as a game for all shapes and sizes any more than the current laws do. Shane Williams, Brian Habana and Jason Robinson have been the only small effective wingers in international rugby the last 10 years that immediately spring to mind. And its beacuse they are so quick. I hope there will always be a place for the quick winger and dont believe under the ELVs this is any less the case. Likewise big props and tall second rowers are still vital, they just need to be fitter. The point about defence still completely and utterly dominating attack I am not sure about this being true or being the fault of the ELVs either. There has been some low scoring games during the Super 14 but also some blowouts and some matches featuring a combined 75-80 points. Isnt that what the author wants ? Variety ? The final only featured 3 tries but it wasnt so much that defence was a more dominant mindset of both teams than attack, and more to do with the magnificent individual and collective tacking efforts of the two sides. Scorelines in the Sydeny Club rugby this year also show a lot of variety. Last weeks for instance: 33-32, 31-15, 50-26, 19-6, 52-22, 26-23.
Andrew B
Guest
"A game for all shapes and sizes: FAIL, completely. 125 kg Os du Rant would have to loose 15 kg to play today’s game, and would you pick the 75 kg ex All Black wing Terry Wright today?" I disagree. Os du Rant would definately play. Ollie le Roux, maybe not, but I have absolutely no problem with having a decent level of fitness a requirement for an elite level professional sport. And 75kg wingers went the way of the dodo long before ELV's. Are you saying the ELV's should have brought these small guys back into the game? "Reduce game stoppages: PASS" Stoppages are up considerably. Its one thing I don't like about the free kick sanction. "Easier to referee: PASS" The refs I've spoken too do not find it easier. It's different, but they still have to interpret a lot and now even have to make judgement calls on free kick vs penalty.
bob
Guest
You may be interested to learn that today the RFU (England) decided not to allow collapsing the maul in the ELV trials here for under 19 rugby... http://www.scrum.com/39_54356.php
Ian from NZ
Guest
This post is missing half of the comments I posted the rest under a post called : The ELV committee was flawed, the scope flawed, the outcome flawed continued.
bob
Guest
Ian, brother... I agree again! Do another one!!!!