Owens pours scorn on new call for school tackling ban

WELSH rugby referee Nigel Owens has ridiculed academics who have called for tackling and scrums to be banned in schools rugby.

Allyson Pollock and Graham Kirkwood from the Institute of Health at Newcastle University have argued that most injuries in youth rugby occur due to the collision elements of the game.

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said that ministers should “put the interests of the child before those of corporate professional rugby unions”.

Removing collision from schools rugby is likely to “reduce and mitigate the risk of injury” in pupils, they said.

They argue that a history of concussion is associated with the “lowering of a person’s life chances” across a number of measures including low educational achievement and premature death.

Citing previous research into sports injuries in youngsters, the pair argue that rugby, along with ice hockey and American football, have the highest concussion rates. But their study has been rounded on by figures in the game, with Owens delivering a withering verdict.

“They will want to ban walking to school next. And only rubber pens and pencils to be used in class. What is the world coming to?” he wrote on Twitter.

Former England hooker and BBC TV pundit Brian Moore, whose two daughters have themselves played mini-rugby, was infuriated by the latest study.

He used his Full Contact Podcast on the Daily Telegraph website to vent his fury.

He said: “Professor Pollack has been on this particular thing for a long time after conducting her own research after I think her son was injured playing rugby.

“She no longer cites that particular study. But the last time this came up and she called for a ban, what they did was collate five surveys over a period of time, some of them going back 20 to 30 years.

“Then numbers were put forward to draw something like a 34% risk, which is completely wrong statistically, and you shouldn’t be allowed to do that.

“Also, the signature to that particular call for a ban there was no neurosurgeon involved and again here, neither Pollack or Kirkwood is a neurosurgeon.

“What you have to do is make a sober assessment to weigh the risks versus the benefits... here there is no attempt to do so. Everything Professor Pollock does is selective. There is no balance, or anything given in relation to the benefits.

“If you ban tackling in schools rugby you then expect adults, some who are very physically developed, to undertake a contact activity... at greater risk of serious injury.

“For these professors to call for this measure without addressing the consequences is scandalous.”

A spokesman for World Rugby said it took player safety very seriously at all levels of the sport.

“With appropriate supervision and coaching, rugby is a sport that empowers young people, builds confidence, shapes valuable life skills and promotes a healthy lifestyle,” he added. More rugby: Pages 40&41