Some of the comments on here are laughable, defending the indefendsable yet again.

In what way

Why is punching someone acceptable on the sports field but not in tesco's?

that's a stupid comparison as your sort of saying it would be alright to rugby tackle someone in Tesco but not punch them .Walking round doing your shopping is a bit different to playing a full on contact sport

What if you bumped trollys?

Just because your playing sport you can punch someone?

Your pumped up so these things happen if you punch someone in a shop you don't shake there hand half hour later but they do on a sports field and the crowd love a good punch up do you are in a very small minority

In the circles you mix in.

Hate boxing too do you?

Didn't use to, do now.

The effects it has on the brain and bodyis there to see. I'm not a fan of the social barbarism that it brings as well but I understand why it kept "legal" and hope future genarations will see sense and thrown it on the scrap heap with dog/cock fighting, fox hunting, bull fighting and the shoulder charge.

I've never known a crowd boo when there's been an on field fight quite the opposite and what's wrong with the shoulder charge Sheldon it is a contact sport after all

Its a tough, physical game. The players are also extremely fatigued, which adds to the tension.

A couple of lads having a bash at each other is no problem, just give them a yellow.
Running in with cheap shots should be guarded against, but a bit of honest fisticuffs s nothing to fuss about.

Ah the mob mentality, must be right then.

I aren't going to bother posting all the scientific findings for head trauma if you can't be bothered to check.

I've never known a crowd boo when there's been an on field fight quite the opposite and what's wrong with the shoulder charge Sheldon it is a contact sport after all

I lamented the shoulder charge ban at the time, along with many RL fans and players; it's worth noting however that those very same players wouldn't hesitate to sue the regulatory body if they develop brain injuries in later life - cue the no win-no fee vultures trawling the archives to find a shoulder charge that could possibly have been the cause and hey presto, said player has suffered an industrial injury that could have been prevented, but for their employers negligence. In short, once the evidence was in, the ban had to happen.

As for the mass brawl - those fans who've never played the game and would run a mile at the first sign of a 'bit of biff' can be as macho as they like about it; that doesn't change the fact that it's unacceptable and not good for the game. I accept that over 80 minutes in a contact sport there'll be flare-ups, but an all in fight that would see people imprisoned if it happened in the street, has to result in sanctions that are serious enough to eventually stamp it out of the game.

C'mon most of us have played the game and been involved in some biff, more often than not chatting about it over a beer in the bar with your opponent afterwards.
The BIFF differentiator should be the cheap shot from behind merchant, toe to toe is fine and it never lasts more than a minute.