Overweight rugby kids have to go on register

If your kid is overweight and playing rugby in the Wairarapa, they have to wear an armband just so they are identifiable.

They also have to be registered as overweight and noted on a team sheet as being overweight.

But the armbands are a new addition. Until a week ago, the children were required to wear neon yellow socks.

The Wairarapa Bush Rugby Union JAB committee, chaired by the union’s chief executive Tony Hargood, said the rules had been in place for at least five years.

Wairarapa’s JAB rules state that any player playing up one grade because of weight or having been granted dispensation to play down a grade, and who is 10 kilograms above the weight limit for that grade, will be entered in the overweight player register.

The player cannot play in the front row of a scrum, take the ball off the back of a scrum if playing number 8, cannot tap and run with the ball if a penalty or free kick is awarded, cannot receive a free pass within 5 metres of the spot at penalty time, and cannot be used as a battering ram during general play.

There is one exception – those on the overweight register can play scrum at under-13 level.

Hargood defended the rules as being there for safety reasons for the enjoyment of everybody.

He thought the armbands were a good idea, even though they singled out young children.

‘‘We identified the yellow socks at a JAB meeting last week, it was a discussion with 10 people around the table. It included both men and women. Mothers were there too,’’ Hargood said. ‘‘It’s a very positive committee.’’

He defended the name of the register, which is for children aged up to the under-13 grade.

‘‘It’s a dispensation register. It’s there for dispensation.’’

Hargood believed there was no impact on children through being on the overweight register, but conceded that the name would be changed if it had to be.

Safety is paramount for the children and that was what was behind the decision of the JAB committee, Hargood said.

Marcus Loader is disgusted that his 12-year-old son, Luke, is forced to be on the register, identifiable, and constrained as to how much rugby he can play.

He is fighting back. ‘‘It’s discrimination. We aren’t going to make them wear anything different. They are children for God’s sake. We are not abiding by these rules, they are self-conscious enough at this age.’’

Luke, a hooker, weighs 87kg. ‘‘This is a game for all sizes. You wouldn’t tell a winger not to run fast so they can’t get around these boys,’’ Loader said. ‘‘It’s rugby and it’s a contact sport.’’