Tackling in youth rugby ‘should be restricted’

IRISH experts on concussion and brain injuries have backed calls for extra safety measures to be introduced in schools rugby.

More than 70 doctors and academics in the UK wrote an open letter to government ministers this week calling for a ban on tackling in rugby matches played in British and Irish schools.

And now Irish experts have said they agree that restrictions on tackling should be put in place, but stopped short of calling for an outright ban.

The UK professionals argue that twothirds of injuries in youth rugby and the majority of concussions are caused by tackles.

The open letter describes rugby as a ‘high-impact collision sport’ and claims ‘children are being left exposed to serious and catastrophic risk of injury’.

Professor Michael Molloy of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, a former Irish rugby international, said that he thinks tackling should be restricted in rugby in schools. He explained: ‘The game of rugby is like all contact sports. There has to be contact. It’s the safety of the tackle and the technique that comes into question.

‘There should be restrictions on tackling. I don’t think an outright ban is necessary. Children need to be coached how to do it properly and trained.

‘They pick it up very quickly and the technique is important because they need to know how to defend themselves and how to fall.

‘They should tackle low rather than high because there is a risk to both sides when they tackle high. It’s very important for children that they’re matched by size rather than age. Rugby prides itself for being a game for all shapes and sizes but that shouldn’t be the case for the younger age groups.’

Trinity College academic Dr Sabina Brennan called on the Government to discuss the issue and raise awareness about brain injuries by investing in research. She said: ‘Constant collisions in rugby, particularly in the tackle and scrum, can cause injury including head injuries and these can have short-term, life-long and life-ending consequences for children. The use of the term “concussion” is misleading because it makes out it is soft, but it is a mild traumatic brain injury. When you think of a sevenyear-old on a pitch sustaining a mild traumatic brain injury, that puts it in a different perspective.’

She added: ‘It has been shown in studies that months after concussion symptoms fade, the brain continues to show signs of injury and this can, of course, impair children’s abilities to concentrate and learn in school.

‘The Government has a duty to protect children from risks of injury and our incoming government must ensure the safety of rugby by removing the contact from the children’s game.’

A spokeswoman for Acquired Brain Injury Ireland said that for rugby, ‘a game change in some format is definitely needed’.

‘The direct collisions are the area of contention so perhaps for amateur level the rule change should be around training these young players to run for the space as opposed to for their opponent,’ the spokeswoman said.

‘This is how the game was played before it was professional and where it should perhaps return to.’

An Irish Rugby Football Union spokesman said yesterday: ‘The IRFU believe that the lifelong health and personal benefits of rugby, and other contact sports, far outweigh the risks.

‘There is a risk of injury in all contact sports and while World Rugby and the IRFU, in partnership with Ulster University and other institutions, are undertaking research into this important area, we would welcome the opportunity to partner with government agencies in the development of evidence-based research into the risks and rewards associated with all sports.’

‘Children exposed to serious injury risk’