Quote: DHM "I've watched the game (as in physically gone to matches) since 1980. I remember the odd amusing punch up but I remember ball handling, pace, skill far more. My favourite players were fast and skillful -hence my username. Yes they were tough as well, everyone who plays RL is tough, it's a huge part of the game.
People don't know all the risks when they start playing, especially around TBI. That's patently obvious. I agree, players will tend to ignore the obvious risks, young people do. If someone had told me I would break my knee playing rugby and that I would spend 2 years practically on crutches and suffer pain with every step for the next 25 years (continuing and getting worse until I die) I would of course have carried on playing. And you can't make rugby "safe" and I wouldn't want to - it wouldn't be rugby. But it's also obvious that other contact sports are facing legal actions around brain injury caused by head impacts and it's a fact that there are far too many concussions in RL caused by head high tackles and unless that is dealt with by the people who run the game the sport may find itself in serious trouble.'"
Funny one this - because I think we both agree on the fundamental points - the game should protect players from foul play, particularly that involving the head or neck.... we are far too soft on deliberate and repeated attacks to the head/neck. A player like McIlorum should be penalised out of the game - with his rap sheet, any head contact, whether deliberate or reckless should result in a minimum of 150% of his previous sanction. So if he got 4 games last time, a minimum of 6 for his next offence, and then 9 for his next, 15 the next, 23 the next and so on - that would guarantee the repeat offenders fix their problem or they’ll be worthless to any club.
What I don’t think we should do is make the game powderpuff like removing shoulder charge entirely, stopping a bit of fisticuffs every now and then (O accept there is some risk here, but rarely have I ever seen a rugby fight end with any real damage) other than a shiner or cut.
Also, in terms of claims, the only way I could ever agree with a player making a claim is if the club forced the player to break head injury protocols, or were implementing training or match day techniques that they knew were dangerous. With the whole concussion stuff being very new, I don’t believe there will have been instances of this. To punish the sport for something they didn’t know about isn’t right - particularly when players enter contact sport knowing their is an inherent risk.
