Rathbone: Rugby is failing in its duty of care to the players

While I think Mr Rathbone's point is valid, the inclusion of the NFL as an example weakens the argument for those who know anything about the NFL. American football is not so much a contact sport as a combat sport and is so high impact that many of the players have very short careers due to injury, even with all the armour and padding that they wear. It's just not a comparable sport to rugby. Some of this is due to the huge size of the players, which puts strain on their own joints and ligaments. A lot of it is due to the impact between players, which the armour contributes to. For example, American football has a genuinely horrific number of serious head and neck injuries every year (including at the professional level), which are likely contributed to by the armour and helmet increasing the force with which hits can be made. Wearing a hard helmet allows players to deliberately hit with the head, which is the hardest thing a player has. The rules against head contact are rather weak and unevenly enforced. As an illustration of the difference between rugby and American football, look at where the armour and helmet they wear came from (given that both sports come from the same basis). American football had an unfortunately high instance of players being killed on the field (!) in its early days. The armour usually prevents this. The helmet's not meant to (and doesn't) stop concussions - but it is pretty effective against skull fractures! In comparison, rugby players being killed on the field is pretty rare and in 13 years of contact sports (including 10 of rugby) I saw one skull fracture. The contact's just not the same. Anyway, I agree with Mr Rathbone that over injury is a problem - but the NFL is not an example of good management of this.

Pash of Manly. Different points being made. I am saying junior rugby players should, but adult amateur rugby players should not get subsidies form the ARU for medical and insurance costs.

I suggest you look up some Top 14 and Pro D2 fights on youtube some quality brawling you don't see in loig these days

Yes Hoy players from every other nation EXCEPT the AB's get red-carded without demur -maybe you should ask why is it that Refs would rather walk over hot coals and be thrown into the lion's den than red-card an All Black huh ?

No,no,no,it's because of the conference system,initiated by one John O'Neill,that the Super Rugby season is too long and players don't get enough rest. This is all John O'Neill's fault,don't look any further.

Al, and are bald. Male yoga instructors are usually bald. Ever noticed that?

There was a very interesting article in The New York Times a month or so ago - 'How Yoga wrecks your Body' Yoga ! - who would have thought ? Though upon reflecting on of that article, it did occur to me that an amazingly high proportion of the Yoga practitioners I know have had knee reconstructions !!

First off, Great article, opened my eyes to another side of rugby, which I sometimes wondered about, but mostly kept to the back of my mind when watching a game. @ Johnno What you have written is very strange, its as if you and Bunyip had gotten together to make a point with sarcasm. I think Bunyips point was to say "your playing and getting money, if you dont like it, dont play". And you have come out and said pretty much the same thing to bunyip, as a chastisement for saying it to a professional.

all big hits are not cowardly but stomping and eye gouging definately are. i have been on the bottom of plenty of rucks in rugby and there is plenty of cowardly and dirty play that goes on down there, maybe you guys are wingers and have never entered one or stuck your head in a scrum

way off the mark "one long fist fight" - i think that is very inaccurate. there is very little brawling in league these days. As for the NFL there are never fights or brawls. And obviously there are never any fights or dirty play in rugby

The 1991 documentary film "The Last Boyscout" highlighted the problem of this kind of stress being placed on players. It highlighted that PROFITS and GAMBLING lead to a dis-regard for what ultimately make the game great - The Players. It is the players who give fat people something to yell at other than their wives and children. I also believe that the Government's decision to deter people from Poker Machines will place further pressure on professional athletes to provide dreams for obese low income earners and people who used to be good at sports when they were younger. I abhor the creation of the professional athlete, people like Todd Carney and Joel Monaghan, who have nothing to do but work out, look cool in tight shirts and spend quality time with their friends and their friends pets. It also reduces the intellectual capacity of professional sports people over generations as their is less focus on the requirement for a career outside of sport. I remember when I first started watching sport on Television and they would show you the profession that the footballer was engaged in during the week. A lot of people also ate oranges and smoked on the sidelines or in the dressing rooms. I bought shares in Oranges that have not done well compared with shares in companies like Gatorade. Having a job while you were playing was a good thing, less stress on the body and if it came back it should lead to less sporting figures appearing in embarrassing television commercials for ambulance chasers, vitamin companies and discount clothing stores. Another epidemic that I would like your opinion on is the appearances these professional athletes are making in schools, under the guise of community work. Just because they are un-educated and have nothing to do during the day, why should they get in the way of the education of others? I am worried they will inspire young people to play sports and away from careers that matter like economics and real estate. If some of these children were to go onto be scientists we may see cool robots or organ and ligament replacements for sports people in our life time and that ultimately is the world I want to live in.

Johno the only floored logic is yours, if you take up employment in a hazardous environment, it's your job to arrange insurance. If the conditions that pro players are subjected to were so unreasonable then no one would want that job? A rugby career is so awesome that there are people out there who can be doctors, lawyers run businesses etc but they give it up on the off chance that they could be successful at this endevour. It's just supply and demand. Furthermore if you think the ARU has essentially no responsibility to amatuer rugby you're deluded because almost all pro sports are built on the back of the thousands of people who don't make it and not the fellas who do!

Bunyip your point is flawed on so many levels. You accept the sport is amateur at your level so how can you demand, a private company o organisation to help you. The ARU are a private organisation they have no business in amateur rugby beyond the shute shield, and of course 1sts colts in the shut shield , and high school 1st 15 rugby. No one is forcing you to play amateur rugby bunyip, id prefer that money is rightly spent on grass roots rugby where future wallabies are produced, than on the food chain level of amateurs who are never going to make the ARU money as player at least, maybe as a fan and being merchandise you have some bargaining power. But it is a little bit outrageous your financial demands bunyip in my opinion. If amateur sport is to costly to ones financial employment do not play it then. It is not for free and not up to the ARU or anyone to fund amateur sport of subsidise it which means fund anyway. Only the shut shield and junior rugby eg high school 1st 15. It's like saying rugby, rugby league, cricket aussie rules, soccer, tennis, water polo all deserve funding at the lower talented on the food chain amateur level, who wont bring in revenue by playing at pro as they are not talented and good enough Bunyip.

Really good article. Loving the writers lately! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Meh!! Sorry Clyde, I am 30 years old, I get up at 6 in the morning every morning go to work, get home go to training for 2 hours get home have tea go to bed get up and go to work again, than i play first grade rugby on Saturdays. I have had a knee reconstruction, dislocated the other knee and had many other small injuries. Other guys I play/played with have mpre serious injuries and have even broken necks, so I have been lucky, but all these guys that have play/played rugby with that have had minor and serious injuries very rarley get any help from the ARU, they pay their rego fees, thier private health fees and for all their equipment as well as travel up to three or four hours for a game, lose work income due to injury and sometimes have to fork out thousands for an operation. It COSTS most people alot of money and time to play rugby and they get next to no help so i have no time for professional rugby players who get hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (and all their medical expenses paid for when they do injure themselves) complaining about the workload. Its part of the job deal with it, as Ian said professionalism has created this problem so maybe putting every one in the same boat (amateur) where they have to work and play would solve the problem.

I find it odd that you are comparing rugby to NFL, You do realise Clyde that an NFL team can have approximately 53 players on their roster and up to 46 dressed and ready to paly in every game. There are three specialist teams within a team Offence, Defence and Special teams. There are only ever a maximum of 11 players per team on the field at any one time. And as has been pointed out American football whilst technically only a 60 minute game with 4 x 15 minute intervals can stretch out for hours with the clock stopping after nearly every play and for TV advertisements etc Its comparing apples with oranges

Have any of the people here ever watched a game of american football I mean all four hours of it? The only way that the game is sustainable is with an ad every 2 minutes. It turns a hour match into a 4 hour story? I like watching three rugby matches with no ads in the time it takes to watch 1 football match (As an aside I remeber the days of Super 10 when there was an ad in between phases). I prefer our system where I get seven games a weekend, it's even more fun since I discovered Superbru. You'd be surprised how much more interesting drab games are when you actually have an interest in who wins each and every game of the weekend? Nobody forces you to play rugby like nobody forces you to box, yes I am sure the injuries suck, but spending 5 years of your life in an environment where you get to know what it is like to be a God is worth the sacrifice? Successful sports people live more during their career than most people do in an entire lifetime

I play Rugby because of the physical nature of the sport. That is what i love. I also play golf because it is relaxing and very laid back. I have the option of playing both sports and that is exactly how it should remain. If players are concerned about injuries, or their long term health, go and play golf. Rugby is what it is.

he doesnt work bro

I am sure you have a good point however the players have a choice....don't play rugby and go get a job earning a lot less than they are currently on.