Leeds Rhinos - southstander.com • Out 2021 | Stevie Ward - Retirement

And this is the dangerous route it goes down when you start altering the fabric of the game - it starts getting silly. Absolutely clamp down on the illegal contact with the head - make it so that players daren’t swing their arm into a tackle (as they can’t control where it ends up if the player steps/slips etc), make it so they daren’t go for a blindside shoulder charge that could go wrong, coz if they get it wrong and collect the head, they’re out of the game for a LONG time. Make it so that they don’t get paid whilst banned, that’ll soon sort it. But don’t mickey about with the fabric of the game to make it ‘safer’ - that will just ruin the sport IMO (and already is doing).

Look at boxing - boxing simply can’t survive if the doctors and solicitors have their way, infact I don’t think any contact sport can, because if you remove the head injuries, the solicitors will then go for arthritis.... it won’t end.... we have to be. If and strong enough to say ‘we know our sport comes with risk, if you want to play it, never mind earn a living from it, you do so knowing the risks’ and take our chances legally. Contracts should be worded to protect the sport on this front.

I know HSE laws are designed to protect workers, but for mine, contact sport has to have different definitions, sport ultimately is a hobby, and people choose to do it knowing the risks. If I decide to climb a tree in the park, and fall out and hurt myself, I shouldn’t be allowed to sue the park for having climbable trees and no signs saying ‘don’t climb the trees’, but I bet I could find a solicitor willing to take on the case based on that.

Statistics: Posted by Superted — Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:47 pm — Replies 109 — Views 28366

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