Stark warning demands urgent action

WHEN Ben Kay warns that rugby might not exist in 50 years time without a serious and sustained commitment to improving player safety, it is not scaremongering. That is the stark reality. More and more former players are coming forward with troubling stories of chronic health problems. The looming legal challenge that the game’s authorities must contend with is destined to be a costly and damaging saga, but also a vital line in the sand. Without a willingness to embrace fundamental change as a matter of urgency, rugby will not survive. Kay is right about that. He is also right to highlight how the concerns of parents will be the telling factor. If future generations are steered away from the sport for their own wellbeing, it can’t go on. Adults may be willing to consider all the facts and subject themselves to a certain degree of risk, but parents won’t want to send their children down a sporting path which could lead to early-onset dementia and other dire fates. Kay and other former players are stepping forward to aid scientific insight but that alone won’t be enough. The crackdown on head contact won’t be enough either. There has to be an even more profound cultural shift. It will jar with those who savour rugby’s collisions and confrontational nature, but these elements of the game will have to be eclipsed by a greater emphasis on speed, space and skill. Minor law tweaks achieve a certain amount but more substantial action may be required — whether that be reducing the number of players on the field or outlawing the breakdown zone altogether. Those who wish to defend the status quo can do so and the sport will wither away. Only by accepting a faster, more open game over the current heavy-impact version can rugby survive and prosper.