hiya folks, not been on here in years, saw this article and thought this would be the best to post on.
As some one whos played both college rugby and open age rugby at amateur level, theres a fine line as to what is acceptable and what isn't.

To me a punch up like has been stated can be part and parcel of the game, but an example of a street brawl on the pitch with kicking and also possibly biting, (yes i do class punching as violent) is not what should and isn't acceptable within the game, thats what a ref's partly there for, to stop this kind of behaviour and also if he/she sees any of it early on should stop it and give both captains warnings.

Also as has been stated, at youth level (to me under 18's), there should be no need or call for violent behaviour (punch ups included) at those levels and it should be stopped and also the players/parents must be given warnings and also punished if it is happening at these levels.

But in open age it could be seen as slightly more acceptable as being part and parcel of the game.

To me it is something i believe is part of the game and should only be accepted at pro and open age amateur levels, but like i said there is a fine line, an example would be the melbourne V manly match, it got all the players and fans 'excited' at the start that there was a but of a scuffle and a punch up, it continued and got out of control near the sidelines and that wasnt acceptable and quite a few players got sent off, banned for several games and also fined.


no doubt some of you will disagree and pick holes with this post but thats my view, that at over 18 it is slightly more acceptable but that there is a fine line that all players, coaches, fans and officials must know where it gets too much and must be stopped.

For the sake of balance, I have also experienced agro & violence in Rugby Union, as well as League, though I tend to laugh it off, and get on with it, and hit the dirty fekker harder next time he has the ball

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We don't play mini or junior fixtures against our local large town because one of their parents assualted one of our juniors during a match a couple of years a go. They either change their culture or we don't go near them.
We still played them at senior level though and I found their 2nd team to be a good bunch last year (especially the guy who I butted heads with - we both ended up chatting in casualty), but their firsts and their supporters were a bunch of c***s. Thankfully not in our league this year.

We do seem to suffer a discrepancy between our adults approach, and our juniors.

As usual, some good & intelligent posts from the board's coaching fraternity. Dunno whether others feel the same but I always find this stuff worth reading.