Judging by some of our defensive efforts this year, we already have been.

Thats because Wigan have stopped playing the game of RL and seem more interested in concentrating on the niggly stuff.
You should put a bid in for Greg Bird, he'd fit in well at Wigan

As a young kid playing rugby many moons ago, I relished the physical contact and being bashed around.... and I wasn't the only one.

Every few years, a university boffin comes out with this "ban tackling" garbage and it gets national press coverage..... yawn. Plenty of evidence to the contrary too that RL is no more dangerous than fishing or snooker

That's a lovely stereotypical rough and tumble attitude - but so long as this kind of academic evidence piles up, the possibility of clubs and/or the governing body of either code being sued out of existence by injured players (or parents of injured kids) becomes more likely. Didn't the NFL settle a class action lawsuit from former players a few years ago, to the tune of about $700 million?

It's not very sensible to dismiss these things based on a perception that it's health and safety gorn maaad.

I don't believe that for one second

I had 8 stitches in my head, ear nearly ripped off twice, 2 broken noses, numerous teeth knocked out/broken, dislocated clavicle, dislodged vertebrae, countless tears & sprains, to name but a few. None of it compares with the pain in my thumbs after tag rugby. It should be banned.

There are more injuries in soccer at schoolkid level from bad tackles and tackles that though not intentional end in injury, massively so.
This was one of the things we pushed in schools in Hertfordshire to try get kids playing RL as opposed to the round ball game.
I had these stored on my PC, I don't doubt that that is significantly different nowadays.

Surely that is related to the numbers actually playing the games though than propensity?

May well be a rough and tumble attitude. And yes there is academic evidence to suggest contact sport can be harmful, it annoys me that these academics come out and say it needs banning. Probably a lot of them undertaking the study have never played contact sport. On the other hand to 'academic evidence' I fell out of a moving taxi going at roughly 30-35mph in Leeds last year. If it hadn't been for all my rugby training and learning to land/roll during contact and constantly conditioning my body for contact then it is safe to say I may well not be here now. So contact within Rugby probably saved my life.

Boxing is probably the worst sport in terms of injuries. And yet there is no outcry to ban boxing or wear helmets? And yes the NFL were rightly sued, they sent players back on the field knowing they had suffered concussions. This was pre-head testing. Now we have a system where a doctor has the final say, not a coach or a player but a professional who determines whether or not it is safe to re-enter the field or miss the rest of the game. Also in America they have to pay for their own healthcare, here it's a lot different. There is no upfront cost or paying thousands for a procedure.

We unfortunately now live in a suing culture. Where everyone is looking to sue someone for every little thing. For me if you want to play contact sport it should be written in the contract that you play knowing the risks, and you are only eligible to sue if there is negligence from the team (like the NFL case) or a player breaks the law and performs a banned tackle which results in serious injury. If people are afraid of getting hurt. Don't play.

Probably, but I wouldn't know what the participation levels are, from that table the [ireported[/i injury ratio is 4.5:1, even if the ratio of participation oustripped the injury ratio there are a heck of a lot of serious injuries in soccer at all levels and no-one is even remotely talking about banning tackling in soccer, it would be ludicrous, just as it would be for rugby at school level.

It's like stating that child cyclists must wear helmets yet 'only' 6 children were killed (non preventable by a helmet in any case and most likely the fault of a motorist) yet ignoring that 12 children were killed by head injury alone in motor vehicles in England and wales plus many more deaths, that despite airbags etc. why not ban children being driven in cars etc as opposed to forcing the vulnerable to adorn something known not to protect at anything above failing whilst tripping speeds

Union introduce the skills at junior level in a much better way than league do IMO, initially its tag rugby- to me that encourages passing and catching skills rather than the league coaches methodof "give it the big lad so they can just run over the rest" - they build up certain skills each year- but of course that's at junior clubs where the coaches are specialised. The issue I feel is that kids suddenly get introduced to rugby at high school aged 11-having never watched or played the game- and the PE teachers aren't able to coach techniques correctly.

In the last 18 months or so, Touch Football Australia has officially aligned with the NRL. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this is being at least somewhat effective in keeping smaller/later developing kids in the game