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Game must stomp out the violence
By MICHAEL DONALDSON - Sunday Star Times
05/07/2009
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/o...t-the-violence
OPINION: American footballers get into a heck of a lot of trouble off the field with incidents in recent years including shootouts and dog-fighting. But on the field, you struggle to find a much cleaner sport.
In a week when rugby was struggling with its image as a thug's sport, with eye-gouging incidents on either side of the southern hemisphere, I wondered why rugby still has this wild streak about it.
In my experience, the only other sports with as much violence as rugby are ice hockey, Australian Rules and that ancient, crazy Italian game Calcio Fiorentino, which allows head- butting and punching.
In professional ice hockey, the violence is actually encouraged as part of the entertainment while in Aussie Rules a lot of the worst thuggery happens off the ball and usually involves punching.
Rugby has done a lot to tone down violence in the past 20 years and the advent of widespread television coverage has made it harder for players to get away with things but heinous crimes such as biting, testicle- grabbing and eye-gouging continue.
Sure, there are huge hits in gridiron and players have been known to target each other, looking for a hit that can leave a rival flat on his back, but they veer away from the really nasty stuff. About the worst thing you can do in the NFL is grab another guy's face mask. Anything that even looks like turning violent is shut down quickly by one of the seven officials swarming around the action.
But the main difference between the two codes is that American football does not have a contest for the ball. In that regard it's a lot like league, with the play effectively ending with a tackle. With no ruck or maul there's no opportunity for players hidden at the bottom of a pile of bodies to do damage to their counterparts.
Not that American football was always so clean. At the start of the 20th century, players regularly died in games, usually as the result of blows to the head. It got so bad that president Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban the game unless the violence stopped.
The evolution of padding and, in particular helmets, made the American game safer but only after the officials outlawed what was known as spearing, where a player would initiate contact with his helmeted head. But the greatest advances in the past quarter-century have been the number of officials on the field and the number of TV cameras.
American football is still a fierce game, with massive men directing deep wells of aggression against their rivals but it lacks the nastiness that creeps into rugby, where there still exists a dark space away from the eyes of officials, often hidden from the HD cameras, where an evil intent lurks. Sometimes that viciousness slips out into the open, as it did with eye-gougers Schalk Burger and Sergio Parisse last weekend.
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How can rugby further clean up its act? Well, it can't do away with rucks and mauls, which are the essence of the game. As long as there's a contest for the ball, the baddest players will use any means, fair or foul, to secure that ball and in the process intimidate and opponent. The two go hand- in-hand: I can remember a friend telling me about a game he played against a senior All Black some years ago when the All Black, in a maul, grabbed his rival's testicles and twisted them while saying "let go of the ball".
In the end, it's up to the IRB, to emulate Teddy Roosevelt, and send really strong signals. To that effect, Burger's eight-week ban is probably not enough, particularly given his history of dangerous play. A year-long ban would start to make an impact.
Posted via space
Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
Love the headline!
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Yeah. Someone put a lot of thought into that![]()
Posted via space
Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.
What the fu**!!!!!
What's wrong with grabbing someones testicles and telling them to let go of the ball? He makes it sound like a bad thing.
Please do not make rugby a soft game all we need is players falling over and trying to milk a penalty. It is a hard mans game played by hard men. If you want a soft sport go and watch these games which are in order of softness from 1. the softest down to 5. the even more softest.
1.Golf
2.Tennis
3.Lawn Bowls
4.Soccer
5.Gayfl
always thought front rowers had no balls
Gunny, they aren't balls, they are handles![]()
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Better ask a Lock, I was safely in the Backrow
Actually, we weren't allowed to crutch bind in schools, wonder if they can these days?
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
The article's rubbish - Michael Donaldson should have done some basic research before writing it.
Padding and helmets did not make American Football safer, they were already being used when there were lots of deaths. American Football used to be a 15-a-side game much like rugby, and the main difference was that you could block and tackle players who didn't have the ball. There were rucks and mauls (including the infamous flying wedge and inverted wedges which were plays designed to injure opponents) and because you could legitimately hit anyone on the field for no reason the games were just huge punch-ups. When dozens of college players died in a single season (and these were the days before college sponsorships to gifted athletes - dozens of people who won a place to college on academic merit died) then the colleges got together and agreed that the play ought to stop once the ball was dead, and it started to resemble the game it is now. It wasn't helmets and padding that made the game safer, it was not contesting for the ball.
Secondly, I've played American Football (junior international level). If Donaldson thinks there's no nastiness in the game he ought to actually watch what's happening, preferably with slo-mo and high definition. I recall a game where I spent every down punching the guard's right knee - at the orders of my coach - because he was a fat f*cker who had weak knees. The poor kid was only 16 but eventually his knee gave way. They didn't/couldn't complain about it because I hadn't done a thing wrong, legally. They did try to sit on my head at every opportunity, mind.
The only thing I agree with in the article is the idea that deliberate nastiness in rugby ought to have much stiffer penalties.
Robin Mcbryde looks quite at home, a young Gethin Jenkins looks a little worried by it all.
Settle your face, sheikh man dude
when they keep glancing over at me i know they think iam cute and are checking me out -Kalafan 10/3/10
i have difficulty in my life. alot of girls like me but i cannot ask them out. i think they like me cause i am good looking and have a nice smile.- kalafan 3/7/10
FREE LINDSAY
Born TROLLIN