Boxing, for example, is on a different level of seriousness/intensity to rugby league, and so it should be. These guys know the risks they face. The whole attitude is different. You've got a ref in there whose job is to stop the fight as soon as things go too far and you've got combatants who (in theory) should have an advanced level of respect for their opponent and the risks they and their opponent face. A proper boxing fan gets excited about a brutal fight but at the same time expresses concern for the combatants, because that shit is serious. Repeatedly punching someone in the head is dangerous as f**k, much more dangerous than anything that can be done within the rules in rugby league.
Can't agree with that tbh. Never seen any real concern in boxing. I don't think you can have any meaningful level of concern for peoples health if you watch sports like rugby league and boxing. We're both complicit in supporting brain damage, amongst a host of other problems, whether we like it or not. Concern within reason, but not concern in a general sense. Being honest I think somebody who was truly concerned about health wouldn't watch sports of the nature of league and boxing.
People were calling for Gatti - Ward rematches at the same time as both were lying up in hospital beds from the previous bout!
In league you've got guys fighting wildly precisely because they're angry and have no respect for each other. No rules, no idea what they're doing. Now I know that experience shows it's rare for anyone to get badly hurt because with 26 blokes out there it invariably just becomes a shambles and nothing clean lands. Nevertheless, it's a very dangerous and uncontrolled environment and if you're actually making rules about this stuff, there's no way you can write them in a way where punching is acceptable.
I don't disagree there should be sin bins for fighting, if for no other reason than it brings a level of consistency that the game needs. I just think it's a folly that we're doing this to protect the games image and grow the game, or stop fights, or some other such bullshit, because I don't accept as valid the presupposition that the middle class and whoever else tend not to watch the game because of fighting, or because of shoulder charges. I don't believe it.
But this is where I struggle. Unlike boxing no-one is signing a contact to fight when they play rugby league. There's no consensus on what's acceptable and what isn't. You could argue both Gallen and Merrin perpetrated "king hits" because they punched blokes who weren't expecting the situation to escalate like that and weren't protecting themselves from a punch.
You could argue that but I'd say otherwise. When you push somebody and beckon them to fight you, you can't call it a king hit if the other guy obliges you and punches you in the head. If Myles wasn't expecting to be punched then tough luck for him.
Myles gave Gallen good reason to believe that he(Gallen) was about to be physically assaulted further than what he already had been. I could be off base here but even legally, if somebody assaults you(Myles pushing Gallen) and is verbally provocative/violent in doing so, coming forwards towards you, suggesting a more severe attack it coming, I think a court would agree it's an act of self-defence on most days.
I begrudgingly agree with some of your general points because they're just facts, in a lot of cases there isn't an agreement, nobody signed up to fight (okay, maybe Darcy Lussick did) and fighting can obviously be dangerous. But if I'm being honest I think the truth of it is that I don't really care. High shots are dangerous and people don't agree to them. I don't think either are an epidemic warranting all the attention it gets. Sin bins for people starting fights and stronger punishment for acts that go beyond that.
