Rugby!

I think in many sports they have an element of danger. But you have to weigh up risks against benefit to physical and mental well-being.
My son was/is sport mad. He didn’t take up Rugby which in a way we were pleased about but wouldn’t have stopped him if he wanted to. When younger he was into cycle speedway and I cannot count the number of times he went over the crossbar and injured himself. He was such a regular at A&E the triage nurse told him he was on the Christmas card list,
He then played ice hockey for his University team, also quite a few injuries.
He is now in his 30s and plays field hockey to a reasonable high level but still has frequent injuries. He is concerned he may have to stop soon but is considering coaching.

the ethical issues concern me, re informed consent, and understanding the mechanism of traumatic brain injury. theconversation.com/tackling-in-childrens-rugby-must-be-banned-to-curb-dementia-risks-151879

how can a child give informed consent to a risk that few adults really understand.

Our sons went to a rugby playing school and hated it. The older ones got out of it pretty quickly but the youngest was tall and solid and in much demand for the rugby teams. Basically, we refused to let him play for the school at weekends and gradually he was forgotten about. Phew. But he was a great cricketer and did play for the school and university and that's left him with a damaged back from bowling.

Exactly wellbeck

Anyone going to watch a match this season? Expensive these days - used to be a fiver.

After a football game. everyone just leaves the pitch and goes home. After the rugby matches, the coach has a chat and thanks the visiting team, then they all go for something to eat, including parents and visitors.

That’s a huge generalisation. It may be true where you live, but certainly not round here. When my DS was playing football, his club had a thriving social scene and we made lifelong friends. In fact we had a 30 year reunion just the other week of the parents involved in fundraising for the original clubhouse.

My DGS are now playing for football clubs just like that, with regular family nights out, quizzes, treasure hunts etc. The local rugby club and cricket club are similar.

Believe it or not, karate is one of least injurious sports. I've never had anything worse than a split lip, black eye or bruised ribs. With the bruised ribs it only takes five or six weeks to be able to breathe, laugh or sneeze comfortably! 😂😂😂😂😂😂 A friend ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while sparring when she slipped on a pool of sweat on the floor! Of course it was sweat from one of the men! They sweat buckets! That finished karate for her and she was devastated.

ACL ruptures are fairly common in soccer players, I believe. It's the turning at speed that does it, I think. Nowadays, soccer players are at least safer from brain injuries caused by heading a wet, leather football. The balls are no longer made from leather and youngsters are not allowed to head the ball after quite a few cases of dementia in professional footballers was linked with repeated impacts.

Professional sports players can also get repetitive strain injuries e.g. shoulder, elbow, wrist in racquet sports, foot and knee in runners, but they are also common in other professions. I have wrist and thumb problems from using hand tools in sewing and much writing. My son has similar problems from sitting safely at a computer and using a mouse!

Reminds me of my teenage years when my then boyfriend used to play rugby for the school every Saturday. Never knew what state he'd be in when we went out that evening - black eyes, missing teeth etc. Since those days brought up my son who played for a local club. I think he kept out of the fray as much as he could so it wasn't too bad. Bright lad! Hope my grandson doesn't take it up. Not keen on the sport as yet thankfully.

Aveline

I bet it was the player's Gran! That's what I'd do if I saw anyone likely to hurt my DGS!

Where I come from all the local teams are Rugby League. They play Union at school. The woman who hit my granddad probably knew him it was a small village. He was not an aggressive man but was on the Rugby pitch. I had a lovely solid gold medal of his when his team won the county cup but unfortunately, it went with all my jewellery when we were broken into.
My father was doing trials for going professional but was injured and retired.
I suppose a lot depends on the position they play. My BIL played wing at county level and was never badly injured but a friend who did the same but in the forwards took some awful knocks and went back for more.
My SIL school would not play it as someone had been badly injured.
I'll still be watching it tomorrow.

Both my children boy and girl played rugby at school and adult level and loved it x one broken ankle and nose x2

I really believe that most teenage boys have an inbuilt need/wish to do high adrenaline things. It probably goes back to caveman days! Surely it's better they get that from a sport than other reckless behaviour. My son took this desire to extremes by joining the Marines!
Are you going to stop him from learning to drive? That must be much more dangerous

He's not learning to drive at only 12!

I worried about my son playing rugby at school but thankfully he wasn't injured and gave it up when he could. However a friend who played got injured and ended up with a pulmonary embolism. he survived it with a stay in hospital but then go covid during the pandemic and ended up with long covid, presumably due to the vulnerability from his previous illness. His son still plays and the whole family watch the sport, but I'm glad my son has no interest as I think it is quite a risky pastime.
DS does go climbing though and managed to break a bone in his heel jumping down from a climbing wall just before his wedding. He got married on crutches and their plans to climb mountains while on honeymoon had to be somewhat modified!
DD climbs mountains and managed to break and dislocate her ankle on top of a Scottish mountain and had to be rescued by helicopter!
Many sporting activities have risks attached but have many health and fitness benefits.

You've worried me now eddiecat. My GS plays rugby and is learning to drive 😧

As a house master’s wife in a rugby playing boys’ school I got to watch a lot of house matches in which scores could be settled. DS, watching this from the age of two, was the only boy I knew who came off the pitch clean, having steered of trouble, and took up rowing as soon as he joined the senior school at thirteen. Still likes watching rugby though.

From a husband who played rugby, through to the next two generations, I think it’s safe to say we too are a rugby family! One remarked that he had had more injuries playing squash than he did Rugby. This obviously did not account for the odd black eye! We have been very lucky being able to travel round the country watching them play, though we did not venture abroad. Try to go to the tournaments and matches and share their enjoyment. Alas we have now become fair weather supporters but we still look forward to hearing their results on Saturdays. They have all done extremely well at this sport and we are so proud of what they all achieved.

Bella23. I think your grandfather must have played in the same soccer league as my father and came across the same aggressor. He was captaining a team of 15 year olds when a lady (shall we say) of generous proportions,wielding an umbrella,set about him and whilst raining blows on his head and shoulders declared that the team must have brought a man in to captain their side because no 15 year old was that tall and strong!

My twin DS will be 50 this year. When they started playing rugby at school I was a wreck at the thought of both being injured. I insured them thinking if I paid for the e insurance I'd never need it. I didn't, and both are huge rugby fans, as am I.

A close member of our family has recently retired from professional rugby and won’t be encouraging his young son to play, despite having a great career and a passion for the game.

I’m a massive Rugby fan, there are injuries like most sports, I see it as an outlet for the energy of men and some women, it is good for team building. There is a very old adage, Rugby is a hooligans game played by gentlemen, Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans. If boys want to play let them, if not they can choose athletics, tennis or many other sports

Rugby Union has gone too far in the high impact aspect of the game, causing brain injuries, that has to change and is changing

It sounds as though the main issue for your DGS is a poor standard of refereeing with rules not being enforced.

Assault is not an allowed part of this or any other sport.

It is particularity important in contact sports that referees are not of the "it toughens them up" variety.

Mouthguards which register head contacts and retain that information for an entire playing career are being introduced at International level and it is hoped that the cost will reduce enough to make them compulsory for all levels.

There has been a lot of research this century and resulting in better understanding of the serious cognitive and neuropathological consequences of repetitive head impacts and multiple concussions

I should add that my sister played rugby at university and after and loved it, but she deliberately chose a non-scrum position as the refereeing was so poor and that was the area where there was the most accidental or deliberately inflicted damage.

The refereeing issue in women's sport extended (at that time at least) to soccer - I once saw a player being stamped on (I was a spectator) and nothing was done because the referee didn't see, there were no assistants at all and the police wouldn't look at anything that happened on a playing field as an assault.

All three of my daughters played Rugby for their club, regional, and east of England girls. One of my daughters is the captain of Lincoln ladies, a qualified referee, and coach at the grand old age of 30yrs. Rugby gave my daughters confidence, the importance of teamwork, discipline. It also gave them friends and teammates, and the importance of female strength in a misogynistic world. All three went on to university, all have professional careers.We lived in a council house and they went to the local comprehensive school. Yes they had broken nose, ankle and broken collar bone, but I think they gained more independence . Plus no worries when it came to dealings with teenage boys.

I don’t know anything about rugby other than the potential for accidents but my GC father is a big fan so both GC play. Girl and boy, 14 and 10.
Can’t say I am happy and don’t like to watch it as it seems very rough but nothing to do with me.