Commission to outlaw 'shoulder charge'

[Slackboy72]

71 shoulder charges a season.

Does anybody believe there are 71 shoulder charges a season? That's 2.7 shoulder charges a round. About 0.3 shoulder charges a game.

How can anybody, whether you agree with a shoulder charge ban or not, take this study serious with such wildly inaccurate figures?

Surely that's just Chris Sandow's tally.

 

[Red Bear]

Relatively brave decision by the administrators to go against public opinion and do something with the long term health and well being of the footballers in mind.

I pretty much agree with Warren Ryan on this issue - the shoulder charge is a cowardly show, made by wannabe tough guys. Leading with the shoulder and not looking at the impact, which obviously leaves it hugely vulnerable to hitting them in the head/neck region, and generally blindsiding the opponent, nothing 'tough' about that.

There's still be big hits, they just need to be done whilst effecting a proper tackle ie wrapping the players up with your arms, driving with the shoulder, rather than simply blindsiding the player.

 

[Frailty]

The difference is all 16 Club doctors wrote a letter saying this is dangerous the brain injury and should be banned.

Once the letter was written the game had no choice.

When a player sues... all they need to do is bring up the letter from the 16 doctors !!

that evidence is damming !!!

Your understanding of the legal system is simply non-existant. You used the example of McCracken - but the league was not sued for this. Furthermore, the players involved were found to be intentionally trying to injure.

Again, these are the same doctors which have no problems needling players existing injuries, as well as bending the current concussion rules in place.

High tackles are already illegal, and the severity should be increased. A legal shoulder charge does not injure a player with any more severity than a regular big ball and all tackle.

 

[DJShaksta]

The difference is all 16 Club doctors wrote a letter saying this is dangerous the brain injury and should be banned.

So 16 clubs doctors didn't proof read their letter???

 

[Bluebags1908]

I am gutted with this decision. Totally ridiculous and such an over-reaction. Rules were already in place for dealing with contact to the head.

If a shoulder charge does not hit the head then what's wrong with it?

Does this mean we also ban tackling next becuase head-high tackles are dangerous?

If they are so concernned about the heavy impact, then reduce the interchange from 10 to 8 or 6 so there are no fresh forwards on the field getting 15 or 20 minutes rest during a game. reduce the interchange and the forwards especially will have no energy left to pull off high impact hits. There will still be shouder charges but with less impact.

Also, if players shoulder an opponent in the head then send them off!

And this 'report' that was compiled with the imput of the club doctors - where is the balance? Why wasn't there a reprot with the other side of the arguement presented?

Dr Mrev Cross said if we want to look at what the result of continuing with shoulder charges would be, then look at the health of old retired boxers... but this is Rugby League NOT Boxing!!! Why doesn't he go ahead and ban Boxing then?

Dr Merv Cross also says "someone will die" if we continue with shoulder charges. Well in 104 years since the game started in Australia in 1908 there hasn't been a single death on the field from a shoulder charge - not in the NSWRL/NRL anyway.

I am slowly getting turned off Rugby League.

 

[magpie4ever]

Okay, well the 10metre line is responsible for significant raise in g force

multiple players in the tackle are responsible for significant rise in g force

Why not ban those. Why not go to a 5 metre rule and only allow 2 people in a tackle.

What's the difference? Both would significantly reduce risk of injury in the same way as banning the shoulder charge, supposedly. So why not?

F**k yeah, back to a 5 metre rule, contested scrums and a 4 player replacement rule - watch the real footballers shine again and the bulked up (non-footballer) athletics disappear. Back to what rugby league was meant to be; a game of attrition and skills not bulk and power. Bring it on, back to the glory days. I like it.

 

[chrisD]

lol. Yeah my first thought when Clinton singled out Sonny Bill and Sonny Bill stood his ground was how cowardly it all was. Or Bell at Burgess, JWH on Galea, O'Meley and Gibbs, Segeyaro at McKendry. So much cowardice.

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

It will be a sadder day when fans boo the ref for not blowing a penalty because of a shoulder charge.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

You think there's more? :?

Stats seem relatively accurate to me, there's probably about 2 or 3 per round in terms of actual shoulder charges.

Do I think there's more? Absolutely mate.

Shoulder-to-shoulder contact without use of the arms happens a good 50 times a game. Not the dramatic ones, but just regular old contact with lazy arms, you see it all the time.

They only happen 2-3 rounds a game if you define a shoulder charge as one that hits someone in the head and is replayed 2-3 times and picked up by the judiciary. Shoulder charges are a constant happening when you pay attention. On almost every kick return there's a shoulder charge.

And lets not forget we're saying shoulders now, but inevitably the refs are going to use the use of arms as measurement and regular ol' chestbumps(Hannant on FuiFui) are on their way out

Put a Rugby Union ref on a League field and he'll blow you a shoulder charge every set of 6.

How can you say there is 2-3 a round when Ben Matulino alone puts on about 10 shoulder charges a game? ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZqKd66nQUU

No doubt we have different understandings of the shoulder charge and that's okay, but my worry is that in the end, not in 2013 but give it 10 years, the judicairy and referee understanding of the shoulder charge will be more in line with my own and that of rugby union than it will with the definition you use to get 3 a round. That's why I'm and a lot of other people are being hysterical, because we obviously think of shoulder charges in a different way

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

The difference is all 16 Club doctors wrote a letter saying this is dangerous the brain injury and should be banned.

Once the letter was written the game had no choice.

When a player sues... all they need to do is bring up the letter from the 16 doctors !!

that evidence is damming !!!

And if all 16 doctors wanted to vanquish the 10 metre rule and multiple players in the tackle, you would support that?

Personally I don't give a shit was 16 doctors say. If 16 doctors were given control over our game we'd be playing touch. The evidence is geniused.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Surely that's just Chris Sandow's tally.

That's why these figures are wrong. Ben Matulino, Chris Sandow and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves alone would total a minimum, the bare f**king minimum, of 10 shoulder charges a round.

So someone tell me where these people got .02 shoudler charges or w/e figure it is a game from. How on gods green earth can you get to the figures they have.

And if those figures are wrong, who would take seriously the conclusions they've reached? This study has no credibility, just because of that.

My suspicion would be that they've used such a perverse and unusual definition of a shoulder charge(they must have to hit 0.05%) to get the result they wanted, that being that shoulder charges(by their unusual definition where you only see 3 a round:lol are seriously more dangerous.

My posit would be that, were they to accurately measure shoulder charges(meaning they'd count many tens of shoulder chargers a round - as there is at least that) we would see the risk significantly reduced.

I'm not saying they've cooked the figures to get the result they wanted, I think they're just genuinely thick.

 

[Frailty]

That's why these figures are wrong. Ben Matulino, Chris Sandow and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves alone would total a minimum, the bare f**king minimum, of 10 shoulder charges a round.

So someone tell me where these people got .02 shoudler charges or w/e figure it is a game from. How on gods green earth can you get to the figures they have.

And if those figures are wrong, who would take seriously the conclusions they've reached? This study has no credibility, just because of that.

My suspicion would be that they've used such a perverse and unusual definition of a shoulder charge(they must have to hit 0.05%) to get the result they wanted, that being that shoulder charges(by their unusual definition where you only see 3 a round:lol are seriously more dangerous.

My posit would be that, were they to accurately measure shoulder charges(meaning they'd count many tens of shoulder chargers a round - as there is at least that) we would see the risk significantly reduced.

I'm not saying they've cooked the figures to get the result they wanted, I think they're just genuinely thick.

The funny thing is even with those statistics it is less than 4% that result in injury...

 

[Springs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4a3Yy0swQ

Is this legal? Ball runners lead with the shoulder all the time. Are they not allowed to now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66wK9zAppHc&feature=related

How many of these are illegal?
For those like magpie4ever who was saying tackles are clear-cut arms around affairs, watch no.11. Barrett clearly tries to wrap his arms around but Grothe comes off the point of his shoulder. Penalty or no?
No. 13 Gidley clearly gets his arm around but the hit comes from the shoulder. If it's a tackle it still has the g force of a shoulder charge, the reason why they're illegal no?
No. 9 Villasanti has him arms out but Graham bounces off his shoulder.
No. 8 impact comes off Sandow's chest.
No. 6 comes off Laurie's arm.
No. 5, again, impact comes off the shoulder and the player bounces off as he is wrapping his arms around.
No. 2 is by the attacking player, it will have just as much g force but will players be not allowed to that if they see a defender coming at them from the side?
No. 1 is a great hit, proper shoulder charge, and oh look, he's completely fine.

How many of these will be penalties? I'd say the refs will react straight away and say all of them.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Damn i love a good shoulder charge

 

[magpie4ever]

I am gutted with this decision. Totally ridiculous and such an over-reaction. Rules were already in place for dealing with contact to the head.

If a shoulder charge does not hit the head then what's wrong with it?

Does this mean we also ban tackling next becuase head-high tackles are dangerous?

If they are so concernned about the heavy impact, then reduce the interchange from 10 to 8 or 6 so there are no fresh forwards on the field getting 15 or 20 minutes rest during a game. reduce the interchange and the forwards especially will have no energy left to pull off high impact hits. There will still be shouder charges but with less impact.

Also, if players shoulder an opponent in the head then send them off!

And this 'report' that was compiled with the imput of the club doctors - where is the balance? Why wasn't there a reprot with the other side of the arguement presented?

Dr Mrev Cross said if we want to look at what the result of continuing with shoulder charges would be, then look at the health of old retired boxers... but this is Rugby League NOT Boxing!!! Why doesn't he go ahead and ban Boxing then?

Dr Merv Cross also says "someone will die" if we continue with shoulder charges. Well in 104 years since the game started in Australia in 1908 there hasn't been a single death on the field from a shoulder charge - not in the NSWRL/NRL anyway.

I am slowly getting turned off Rugby League.

What you don't state is the RL player of today is 10 - 20 kilograms heavier then the player from the past.

Noel Kelly - hooker from team of the century weighed around 85 kgs.

Terry Randall - Manly hard man from the 70-80s weighed probably 90-95kgs

They would be lucky to outweigh some of the half-backs these days.

The 10m rule, the 10-12 interchange and bulking up of players has had a dramatic effect on the g-forces of the tackle and a shoulder charge has double the g-forces of a shoulder and arms tackle.

Case closed, either make the changes indicated above or ban the shoulder charge.

 

[snogard6]

The game is going soft, and as a result will lose fans who love the once toughest sport in the world.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Who could ever forget the day where Jarryd Hayne shoulder charged Darren Lockyer whilst playing for the mighty Fiji,we won't be witnessing this type of greatness anymore

 

[haha]

Sad day when the AFL takes over us as the toughest sport in the land.
I think the telegraph is partly to blame because of the campaign against GI after his hit on Young. It also shows how piss weak our administration is, appeasing everyone but league fans.

How can a shoulder charge be more dangerous than boxing or UFC, can't see the UFC coming out and saying no more punching in the head.

Fair enough some go wrong but they're still good to watch. And now we'll never see the legit ones like Tariq Simms put on Anasta, the world is going f**king crazy.

 

[Skreepe]

Why don't any of the pro-ban posters address the fact that some of the more serious concussions in the game occur from hip contact during a regulation tackle they are trying to promote?

Youtube some of Dallas Johnson's knockouts. One of league's best textbook tacklers is also one who has arguably copped the most concussions.

 

[Frailty]

How are we going to market ourselves?

'We are like rugby with weaker scrums, but more tries'
'We like running into each other, as long as we don't hit too hard'
'Like NFL minus the hits and the pads'
'Safety first'