Quote: Jack Burton "Player insurance costs have nearly doubled, and lawsuits are going to continue. The game can't carry on with the status quo, even if they wanted to.'"
That just seems overly simplistic to me when other sports exist and don't change their rules. The emergence of slapboxing across the globe also flies in the face of this idea. Present the insurance companies with the evidence that doing this won't change the incidence of head injury, or get a sponsor to pay for them. Let's face it, if the RFL is still able to afford them, they haven't changed much in the grand scheme of things. Get Sky to pay it, tell them the product is going to be terrible from next year unless they help.
But they haven't been down any of those routes. The RFL is as tinpot an organisation as you can find in professional sport. They've listened to one man and his agenda and even he admits it likely won't change anything in regards to concussion injuries. It's like asking Giorgio Tsoukalos to consult on the school history corriculum and then implementing all his changes without questioning any of them. What the RFL should have done is taken the report, asked for second opinions, researched further, consulted more stakeholders and had more trials. Implement the ones that are proven to work, ignore the rest, particularly if they have a big impact on the sport's very nature.
There are people who are blindly supporting this and claiming it's the only way. I understand that to a degree, we don't want to see players suffering at any point of their lives. But if these changes do reduce concussion injury, it's only going to be because the ball is in play for a fraction of the time because the players are setting up for 60+ penalties each game. When you reduce the game to that, like I witnessed again at the weekend, you've got to question if there's any point to the game. Abandon it and those still keen can play touch and push that. I've watched a lot of that recently and seeing scholarship players play it was an eye opener. With the right marketing that could be a big sport worldwide. I'm not sure watching Leigh v Salford with 71 penalties and Robert Hicks on Sky proclaiming it as a success has the potential to grow RL.
