Youth Rugby Is Good For You

In anticipation of the current campaign in the media to discourage schools and youth from playing contact rugby, please see attached document statement from the RFU highlighting all of the positives of the game along with the processes/programmes we have in place to ensure player safety is paramount.

If anyone has a particular interest in this subject then you might want to read the following. It is a cut and paste from an online rugby blog where someone has challenged "the report" that has created such a flurry by the media. Whilst this does not necessarily represent the views of the Buckingham Rugby Club or RFU, it does make for interesting reading.

"I posted on this topic yesterday when this open letter was picked up by all the major UK media outlets and repeated through the news cycle. Depressingly, most newspapers are running follow-up stories today but few have looked at the report in detail and more particularly at the people behind it.

Before concerned parents decide that their children need to be protected from the dangers of contact Rugby it might be instructive to take a look at the report’s authors and co-signatories.

American Sociologist Dr Eric Anderson, the man behind this letter, currently holds the post of Professor of Sport, Masculinities & Sexualities at the University of Winchester. Anderson has very colourful views on life, particularly sexuality, which are well documented on the internet and well worth a read.

Anderson’s co-author is Dr Alysson Pollock, who has been on a mission to ban contact Rugby since her son suffered a fractured cheekbone at the age of 14 during a game. She has asserted in the press that 1 in 5 children playing Rugby will, in the course of a single season, suffer a concussion or a broken bone. She offers no data to back up this frankly hysterical claim, yet continues to peddle the line to the news media.

Whilst there is no doubt that children will occasionally get injured playing Rugby, every parent has to weigh up the Risks vs Rewards associated with any activity. Playing Rugby carries a certain level of risk, as does playing Cricket, as does riding a horse, as does skiing, walking down the stairs or being driven to school. Responsible parents make these decisions all the time – what troubles me about this letter is that we are offered no contextual analysis of the argument it makes, we are merely told that children face a very real chance of catastrophic or life changing injury.

As a society we are conditioned to trust the word of medical doctors and we value their opinions, so when confronted with news reports that 70 doctors have backed a move to ban contact Rugby we, as parents, will naturally sit up and take notice. Would we feel quite so inclined to take their opinions as seriously if we knew that they were not Medical doctors or experts in the field of sports science or medicine?

It might be illuminating to take a quick look at a few of the co-signatories of this letter and see their field of expertise:

* Dr Ken Muir – Author of “Homophobia, Misogyny, and Machismo in a Deviant Athletic Subculture: A Participant-Observation Study of Collegiate Rugby.”

* Dr Patricia Griffin – Author of “Strong Women Deep Closets,” A critical analysis of discrimination and prejudice against lesbians in sport.

* Dr Shaun Filiault – Published “Finding the Rainbow: Reflections upon Recruiting Openly Gay Men for Qualitative Research"

* Dr Michael Kimmel - Gender studies. Dr Kimmel is a spokesperson of the National Organization for Men Against Sexism.

* Dr David Birks – Specialises in Fashion Marketing

* Dr Joy Carter – A Environmental Geochemist

* Dr Michael Messner - Sociology and Gender Studies – Recently worked on a study exploring strategies to “stop men’s violence within shifting historical contexts of gender formation"

* Dr John Nauright – Author of "Making Men: Rugby and Masculine Identity” Which explores how an understanding of rugby can provide insight into what it has meant to "be a man" in societies influenced by the ideals of Victorian upper and middle classes.

* Dr Anne Bolin – Cultural Perspectives of Human Sexuality

* A number of other co-signatories hold PhDs in a variety of unrelated fields, the common denominator being that their Doctoral theses were supervised by Eric Anderson.

Undoubtedly they are all experts in their fields but perhaps we should view their backing of this campaign in a new light. Oh, and while we are at it - among Dr Andersons must read publications are – “Openly Lesbian Team Sport Athletes in an Era of decreasing Homohysteria.” and “Cuddling and Spooning: Heteromasculinity and Homosocial Tactility Among Student-Athletes”.

Before I’m accused of playing the man and not the ball, there is a serious point to this – the RFU, through the clubs, has implemented a structured progression through age group Rugby of training, coaching and refereeing to minimise the chances of serious injury. Whilst there is always the possibility of getting hurt that is the same for all physical activity, but we don’t ban swimming when we hear a tragic story of a child drowning, nor take away our childrens’ bicycles because we hear about a traffic accident.

All the scientific and medical evidence points to the fact that the benefits children gain from physical activity, particularly team sports, far outweigh the potential dangers. Young Rugby players need to be coached appropriately to learn how to tackle and take contact to mitigate these risks and when you take into consideration the thousands of children who play Rugby every weekend up and down the country, see what valuable lessons and skills they derive from the game – sportsmanship, teamwork, trust, self-reliance, discipline and confidence, not to mention physical exercise – then the benefits surely outnumber the statistically minimal risks, though naturally that is for every parent to decide for themselves.

I think the media has been more than a tad irresponsible pushing this sensationalist report without getting the counter arguments from experts in perhaps more appropriate fields of study. I would hate to think that parents might stop their children from playing Rugby based on what they mistakenly believe is the best medical advice.

Before this frankly ludicrous report gains any more traction with the media the RFU and the Medical profession in general need to put out a strongly worded refutation and rebuttal".