Quote: Cherry_Warrior "Not what i would call gloves, kicks and knees to the head, beating your opponent to a pulp until they are knocked out and bleeding out everywhere. Some sport that. Regardless of what I think of it though. They aren't struggling to be insured and the competitiors of it will be fit for nothing in 20 years.'"
The main difference is that there has been no change of perception recently. Combat sports have always been subject to big insurance risks and disclaimers so boxing and mma aren't suddenly having to react to massive new bills. For rugby, while there has always been an argument of "they know the risks", the risks people mostly associated with it were to mobility, risks of breaks, hip replacements, knee replacements and so on. With a couple of big lawsuits there is a sudden new financial risk due to dementia, which means insurers that used to deal with the sport have run away and the ones that have stayed are raising premiums at a time when the sport has no money to cope with new expenses. The same is happening down under, but the NRL has the money to cope with some additional expense, and the profile to attract more insurers, so it doesn't have the same effect.
Long term I expect this to settle down a bit but, for now, it's a real challenge for the game over here.
