The shoulder charge is a natural piece of defensive play. Yes, there is intent to hurt the opponent – this is an aggressive contact sport, after all. But it is legitimate, clean and fair.
The continuing crusade against the shoulder charge has turned the game into an overly-sanitised bore. I love big hits and love seeing big, tough men come off badly second in an aggressive clash. This is the stuff that has made rugby league great.
Just see the number of times Channel Nine shows highlights of Chief versus Spud as an example. Rugby league is a brutal game played by tough men. Its blend of brutality, skill and endurance is what makes it great. Or should I say what made it great?
The fights are long gone and, though I miss them, I can at least understand why they’ve been outlawed. Brutal high tackles, eye-gouging and spear tackles are all also, happily, pretty rare these days. I can agree that the cleaning up of the sport is a good thing.
However while I agree with those who salivate over the skill, athleticism, toughness and durability of today’s rugby league players, while also loving the closeness of the competition, I can’t help but feel today’s players are far too regulated in what they are allowed to do.
Today’s player seems to roll off a conveyor belt – they are programmed to say and do nothing which could be controversial.
Consider their plight. They are told to tackle hard, but not too hard. Don’t miss a tackle, don’t let the ball runner make too many metres, wrap up the ball, win the wrestle.
But don’t tackle the legs because it allows a quick play-the-ball, don’t tackle below the ball because it allows an off-load, don’t go above the ball because it gives away a penalty. Don’t attack the ball or you’ll be penalised for a strip. Be aggressive but don’t hurt them.
These poor simple men just want to play footy! They want to hurt each other, accepting that it may go wrong. As long as the dirtiness and maliciousness is absent, what’s the problem? They know what they’ve signed up for – there is a risk of getting hurt!
Ben Te’o and Frank Pritchard have done nothing wrong except attempt to bring some genuine aggression and self-expression to the game.
Sadly, thanks to my rule-interpreting friends at NRL HQ, the colour from the game is slowly being drawn away. It’s bad enough that each player is locked into his own “corridor”, too scared to stray from his patch of grass or his structured role, but now they’re not even allowed to hit each other hard?
These guys spend all week lifting weights, eating red meat and being told to leave nothing in the tank. Because they’re now not allowed to drink or make jokes or have fun away from the game, that 80 minutes is their only outlet. Or at least it used to be.
I remember laughing when Lote Tuqiri went to rugby and was penalised for shoulder charging. Even as recently as last year I had a good chuckle when Sonny Bill copped the same fate.
“Ahhh rugby!” I mocked. “How dull you are!”
Now it seems the joke is on me…
It is remarkable that such a stunning, brutal game can produce such remarkably talented athletes, yet still seem so terribly bland.
paul
Guest
The shoulder charge need not only apply to the defender shoulder charging the attacking ball carrier, but also can apply to the attacking player singling out a defenceless defender who is obviously concussed or exibiting signs of a concussion or head injury from prior play, being shoulder charged thus causing further injury. If it is OK for one it is OK for the other, if not we all know what has to be done
Johno
Guest
"The continuing crusade against the shoulder charge has turned the game into an overly-sanitised bore. I love big hits and love seeing big, tough men come off badly second in an aggressive clash. This is the stuff that has made rugby league great." Quoted for truth. This, and the skill of players is why Rugby League is my favorite sport. The players know what they have signed up for and they are grown men who are smart enough to leave if they dont like it. This is just an extension of all this safety stuff we keep hearing about, making the world a weaker place.
Chookman
Guest
If as a consequence of a shoulder charge contact is made with the head it is a dangerous tackle - regardless of its initial point of impact. Then you can keep it in the game and if it goes wrong then suffer the consequence - perhaps any contact above the armpit should be banned.
Captain Kickass
Guest
Personally speaking ... as a young up'n'coming footballer I didn't operate to my maximum capacity UNLESS I got a smack or two around the bonce ! I've copped plenty a coat-hanger in my time, and I'm a better man and a better rugby league player for it ! Rugby league players NEED hits to the head : It clears up your thinking. It gets your mind on the job. You focus better on the task at hand ... ie: tackling blokes and evading tacklers alike. And another thing that's not being mentioned ... we might smash each other up for 80mins, but it's bonding ! The great John Skandalis picked me up one day in a school match (after beign fed a classic hospital pass), speared me head first into the turf of Worrell Oval and it remains a career highlight for me ..... after my school years, he'd pop in to the shop I managed, and we'd talk about our younger days. He remembered. I remembered. Sure, I had a dicky hooter for a week or two, but we bonded.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The game is tough enough as is.Players like Gallen doesn't have to use the shoulder charge for effect.The shoulder charge is one cm from causing extreme damage to a player on the receiving end.Dread the thought should that happen.And of course some times the player dishing it out ,causes damage to his ownn shoulder.IMO it is not in the spirit of the game,whilst it can at times look spectacular,so does a grass cutting tackle on a runaway attacker. Get it out of the game. I saw Pritchard use the same tackle on Wade Graham. Part of the responsibility of a code is to protect the health of the players under their control.Accidents happen that is a given.Shoulder charges gone awry are more than accidents,they are miscalculations which operate on too fine a line of safety.
mushi
Roar Guru
I just hope it happens to members of the above posters families rather than those who hope people can remember two days ago when they are 50
steve b
Guest
Spot on mushi some of the comments really make me wonder .I just think about how would some of these macho talkers feel if their was death on t.v. right in front of their eyes because of these crazy tackles that can and do go wrong ? god forbid this never happens bit dramatic maybe but these guys are working out more and getting bigger and stronger i feel its only a matter of time until we see a serious injury due to a mistimed shoulder charge . .
mushi
Roar Guru
Is their anything more hollow than “I’m sorry that your friend got hurt…but I hope several other guys get their heads f#$ked up whilst I get to watch and cheer!!!!”
steve b
Guest
No mate my judjment is far from clouded ,how you can say its not really dangerous leads me to believe your judjment is very clouded. The tackle if performed properly is to put one shoulder below the headline to create maxiumum force on your opponent it is designed to hurt . Well known docters have been saying for years this is a very dangerous tackle and it should be banned. Its not just a few fans saying it , their are a lot of players and former players want it gone or see the judicary hand out consitent punishment if they get wrong and it does come in contact with the head.
mushi
Guest
They already have banned those types of tackles. The NRL has even said they are happy to keep it in but if you hit someone in the head you're going to be punished.
Casual Poster
Guest
I'm sorry Steve, just because some of your friends get sent to hospital because of a shoulder charge doesn't mean that shoulder charges should be banned or are even really that dangerous. In the 25 years I played Rugby League I never saw anybody put in hosptial from a shoulder charge. In reality I saw more people injured from ordinary arm tackles in that time then I did from shoulder charges. The fact that you seem to think that shoulder charging involves dropping a shoulder into someones head shows that your judgment is clouded on this matter. Look I'm sorry that your friends got hurt, but like it or not the big hits are part of the game and any form of a big hit can cause the type of injuries you're trying to avoid, not just shoulder charges.
llieno
Roar Rookie
This is a spectacular and great aspect of rugby league. For every bad tackle like T'eo's or Pritchard's there are many that are just good tackles. I don't want players getting seriously hurt as much as the next guy but to ban a type of tackle based on these incidents is an overreaction. The last thing I want to remove from rugby league is the type of confrontational battle that you get from two guys going at it using the shoulder charge. A couple of battles that come to mind: Sims and Learoyd Lahrs last weekend and that huge SBW's hit on Clinton a few years back. I'm all for keeping it!
seanmaguire
Guest
They should ban tackling while they're at it, its great until it goes wrong and a player gets hit in the head it worse. I've even seen players get dropped on their heads! Ban it I say.
Paul
Guest
the shoulder charge has no purpose in the game other than to cuase injury,
mike from tari
Guest
A few shoulder charges gone wrong & people want to ban it why I cannot think, if the legs of the tackler are bent a bit more he hits the attacker in the chest, lets look at the swinging arms that led to Bengie nearly missing the Souths game, no outcries, the swinging arms that laid out the Souths 1/2 back & he got rubbished by the commentators, the swining arm that laid out the Graham but he got up and he was the commentators hero, if you look at boxing some guys can take a hit to the head & not be phased, other guys can take a hit to the head and not be phased but he can be hit in a particular part of his head, chin or temple and go down like a ton of bricks. Evey sport these days has a duty of care so the message is simple, stay away from the head!
Rellum
Roar Guru
"To stop players leading into the tackle and going ground for a quick play the ball. That tigers player run with his head down to a point where anyone but Alfie would struggle to tackle him below the head. The last thing I want to see is 5 tackles of players going down easy for a quick play the ball, followed by a quick dummy half run then kick on the last. That happened in 1997 and t had very few fans then." Actually I will take that back on second thought. But I am still against it banning the tackle.
Rellum
Roar Guru
I already have many sports I follow, I am not some sort of sporting extremist. What happens in 5-10 years when the Daily Telegraph is struggling for a issue to rail against to boost it ratings so it decides to pick on swinging arm tackles around the chest as they may bounce up to the head. Suddenly there is a debate about the merits of this dangerous part of the sport. All the experts will decide that women will not let little Johnny play league as this tackle is too dangerous(they will never actually ask any mothers of course). Eventually it will get to the point where any tackle above the waist will be banned to avoid any possible damage to the head or neck. Then there will be a spate of knee injuries caused by players twisting as they tackle around the legs and so the cycle will be repeated until tackling around the legs will also be banned. 20 years ago if you suggested that the shoulder charge is going to be banned then people would have laughed at you. You probably think the same thing about the above paragraph. At some point we have to decide the game is the game and leave it as such and not give in to every little debate people drum up. I will also give you absolute futurists another reason it should stay. To stop players leading into the tackle and going ground for a quick play the ball. That tigers player run with his head down to a point where anyone but Alfie would struggle to tackle him below the head. The last thing I want to see is 5 tackles of players going down easy for a quick play the ball, followed by a quick dummy half run then kick on the last. That happened in 1997 and t had very few fans then. And is news to me that fights in league and origin have stopped. Maybe you should inform the players of that.
Blaze
Guest
That's what they all sed when they cracked down on fighting in origin.... Plenty still watch....
steve b
Guest
Start looikng for another sport then the word is its coming sooner than later
Rellum
Roar Guru
If they ban the shoulder charge I will stop watching.