A weighty dilemma for junior rugby

Many thousands of parents around the country will know that stab of fear, even if some of them might be loath to share it: standing opposite their child on the rugby field is a potential human wrecking ball, another child who barely fits that description, let alone the uniform he’s given.

Those fears are well-founded, based on facts: ACC figures show that, in 2016, 62,336 players were injured; of those, 19,518 were aged 15-19 and 12,846 were under 10.

Those figures and the faces of resulting disability and, yes, even death, have brought pleas from experts around the country and the world to stop children playing rugby until they are much older, or at least change the game so much as to render it potentially unrecognisable. Rugby is under threat. It has responded with various rules to keep kids playing the game, and safe, including removing the tackle for the youngest children and the onslaught of rampaging bigger kids as they ease their way into our national sport.

Weight limits for youth grades are now standard. They are a common sense measure to level the playing field for those kids whose talent might not be matched by the incredible physical prowess of their opposites. They allow the player to develop those skills while the rest of the body catches up, and the parents to feel comfortable that the safety of the child they are handing over is being managed appropriately.

Wairarapa Bush has weight limits for its youngest players, but it appears to have gone a little further. Possibly too far.

Players who are at least 10kg heavier than their peers have to be registered as over the weight limit to gain dispensation to play in their age-group. That must be recorded in the team sheet and they must also wear an armband (previously it was neon yellow socks). Also, there are various restrictions on what the child can do; they can play in the scrum, but not the front row, cannot take the ball off the back as a No 8, and are not allowed to be used as a ‘‘battering ram’’. There are others.

The parent of an 87kg 12-year-old given dispensation to play the under-13 grade under these rules is disgusted and believes it is discrimination.

It’s likely the parents of the children set to be lined up against his boy don’t agree.

The Human Rights Commission certainly doesn’t. In fact, it can’t. Under the Human Rights Act 1993, weight is not included as a prohibited ground for discrimination.

But we have a great deal of sympathy for both sides of this particular dilemma.

The Wairarapa Bush Rugby Union is right to do all it can to ensure all of its players are kept as safe as possible and risks mitigated. Not doing so is an abrogation of a responsibility entrusted to the union by those parents.

But while highlighting bigger players in this way may not be discriminatory, it is certainly potentially demeaning, and very possibly counterproductive. It sends the wrong message to those children keen to get off the couch and play sport in the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle. That would make it even harder to reverse this country’s woeful statistics around obesity and illness.