Eliminate risk and it will be game over

[The Great Dane]

I think that the ARLC should not risk alienating the friends they have for the friends they want but will never have.

It doesn't matter how much the ARLC sanitizes the game there will always be those people out there that will not allow their kids to play RL because it's to dangerous or whatever their reasoning. As the ARLC keep pointlessly sanitizing the game they keep turning more and more of their biggest fans away and eventually that will have a terrible effect on the game.

Personally I agree with Gus for the most part, but I also see the need for the game to evolve with the times and I think that some of the decisions that the ARLC have made have been sound ones (such as the mandatory ten in the bin for fighting), but there is a point where you can go to far and I think the ARLC has been dancing on it for some time wondering if they should cross it.

 

[Packy]

+1 for this rant. Loved every word.

 

[Godz Illa]

It is a bit of an scattered rant. In forum 7's I'd score it a, 86. Needs more focus.

I agree with the great Manu Vatuvei in this thread, and also sagree with some rebuttal comments made by Steve Mascord on Twitter: administrators have always been the ones making the necessary changes in rugby league (from the very birth of the game itself), and rugby league has always evolved with the times. This is nothing new

 

[DC_fan]

It is a bit of an scattered rant. In forum 7's I'd score it a, 86. Needs more focus.

I agree with the great Manu Vatuvei in this thread, and also sagree with some rebuttal comments made by Steve Mascord on Twitter: administrators have always been the ones making the necessary changes in rugby league (from the very birth of the game itself), and rugby league has always evolved with the times. This is nothing new

Back in 1908 there was no Phillip Ronald Gould.

The game is forever changing. It has to or it will not survive.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

It is a bit of an scattered rant. In forum 7's I'd score it a, 86. Needs more focus.

I agree with the great Manu Vatuvei in this thread, and also sagree with some rebuttal comments made by Steve Mascord on Twitter: administrators have always been the ones making the necessary changes in rugby league (from the very birth of the game itself), and rugby league has always evolved with the times. This is nothing new

You'd think that in the good old days the administrators were just a bunch of pissed-up ferals wildly cheering on foul play.

Haven't we already been through this 30-odd years ago with excessively long suspensions being commonplace?

The people in charge of the game will always be in charge of doing their best to come up with a coherent system of penalties for foul play, and thank God for that. It would be an absolute shambles if people who did nothing but pat each other on the back and feed each other half-baked rants about "the spirit of rugby league" were in charge.

 

[betcats]

Phil Rothfield had a little dig in the telecrap at Gus' article today, the bloke is pathetic.

 

[firechild]

I like the article and it raises some very relevant points. Most notably the fact that parents should be their kids' role models, not some guy playing footy on tv. That is just a sign of society though, noone wants to take responsibility for anything and it's always someone else's fault. I love shoulder charges and enjoy a bit of biff on occasion.

Having said that, as others have mentioned, the game has been changing for over 100 years. The article describes how it has been sanitised over the last 40 years yet objects to it being sanitised any further. As much as I dislike what is currently happening, the article doesn't make a lot of sense in this regard.

Haven't we already been through this 30-odd years ago with excessively long suspensions being commonplace?

Yep, 12 month suspensions were handed out a number of times.

 

[Rod]

I like the article and it raises some very relevant points. Most notably the fact that parents should be their kids' role models, not some guy playing footy on tv. That is just a sign of society though, noone wants to take responsibility for anything and it's always someone else's fault. I love shoulder charges and enjoy a bit of biff on occasion.

This was my favourite point too, as well as the bit about all the other dangerous sports and influences that can potentially be a bad influence on your child if you wanted to blame them for it instead of your own parental guidance.

It may not have been the most coherent or well constructed argument as people have said but the main points he raised were the key for me and what had me so much in agreement. Gus himself would probably admit it was pretty much a passionate rant rather than a clinic in debating, and I don't think that fact should take away from the overall idea/purpose of the column.

 

[M2D2]

It has to or it will not survive.

AHHAHAHHHAHA

 

[franklin2323]

There is worst shows on TV for kids then footy which may or may not have a punch or have d!cks running around.

Watch a music video show the film clips and the words far worse. Any music or Movie star. Hell even 'kids' shows like Ninja turtles or power rangers have more in an episode then 1 season of RL.

The NRL need to stop giving in to the whingers in society

 

[betcats]

Good point Frank, 12yos can go see Rihanna strip on stage but if they see Paul Gallen belt a grub they will be all f**ked up!

 

[franklin2323]

Good point Frank, 12yos can go see Rihanna strip on stage but if they see Paul Gallen belt a grub they will be all f**ked up!

Mine are too young to notice yet though my nephew's got told after the Gallen punch. it was bad he will miss games now. He did so you need to advise them still but nanny state stuff is garbage

 

[Card Shark]

There is worst shows on TV for kids then footy which may or may not have a punch or have d!cks running around.

Watch a music video show the film clips and the words far worse. Any music or Movie star. Hell even 'kids' shows like Ninja turtles or power rangers have more in an episode then 1 season of RL.

The NRL need to stop giving in to the whingers in society

Agree. Violence, nudity, drug use & swearing are more prevalent in other forms if entertainment than ever before. If people didn't want that stuff in that entertainment, they wouldn't go to a movie or buy a video game.

Movies & video games are a licence to print money .....

 

[betcats]

Mine are too young to notice yet though my nephew's got told after the Gallen punch. it was bad he will miss games now. He did so you need to advise them still but nanny state stuff is garbage

This.

If parents are concerned about their kids seeing this and trying to copy it or whatever then the parents should get their kids and do some parenting!

 

[Lambretta]

I used to watch a lot of football back in England in the 70's and 80's
The skill wasn't always the best - but there were always hard men kicking lumps out of people on the pitch and moronic thugs belting each other on the terraces. It was fun to watch. But eventually pretending you'd been shot because someone wandered within your field of view became more fashionable and strangely this behaviour was encouraged. Players were never booked for pretending to be close to death because someone passed over a blade of grass that was growing within a 20 metre radius of their foot, yet good solid hard tackles where you played the man and the ball were outlawed. As was cleaning someone out from behind. The game became so f**king soft I lost interest.


Then I became interested in AFL. It was fast, skillful and bloody tough. I really liked the way you could shoulder charge someone from a 90 degree angle when they were looking the other way and clean the f**kers off their feet. It was fairly brutal but the people that got hit got up and went looking for a square up. It was fun to watch and it was honest. Then hip and shoulders as they called them were outlawed. So was touching people on the shoulder or the back, or the (insert pretty much every body part you could think of) and the game became rather boring to watch. Too many pissy free kicks awarded for bumping into someone or suspensions for really minor, accidental contacts because a player allegedly got hurt. More often that not they were lying down looking for a free kick. Cheating to win games and players getting suspended for it as well. Boring.


Thank god we had Rugby League. A game that was fast paced, skillful and bloody tough to boot. Tough to the point of daftness maybe? Some of the contact was rather solid and people got up when I thought they'd never be able to. Then in came the video referee. Players that stayed on the ground after being "hit" received the benefit of slow motion replays and things were considered "part of the game" that used to be missed were now being picked up, providing the player lay on the floor until the video ref had reviewed it and passed word to the on field referees. Some of the contact is barely more than brushing and yet the players lie down knowing they can get possession back if the video ref looks at it. Then the shoulder charge was outlawed and good, honest, solid contact was put on shaky ground as well. Sure, no one needs to see players belted in the head - but that had always been illegal. Now we've even seen Josh Dugan and others get cited for perfectly decent tackles as they've been deemed as shoulder charges when they're not. So we've added another level of grey areas where there weren't any before and still players are going to get hit in the head accidentally. To add insult to injury players are taking guilty pleas to tackles they shouldn't be, just so they can play in other games at a later time rather than risking longer suspensions. All to placate people that hate the game in the first place and always f**king well will.

If Rugby League goes the way of football and AFL then I will probably end up losing interest.

WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE THINKING PANDERING TO THE WISHES OF THOSE THAT HATE US?

 

[Shorty]

Wow that was poorly written and....well...I'm not quite sure the point he was trying to get across.
In high school you're taught to structure your argument....I realise Gus is an 'ex footballer' but surely he still has an editor or someone writing for him...

A heap of sports penalize heavily on violence, they seem to be doing just fine.

 

[Spot On]

Wow that was poorly written and....well...I'm not quite sure the point he was trying to get across.
In high school you're taught to structure your argument....I realise Gus is an 'ex footballer' but surely he still has an editor or someone writing for him...

A heap of sports penalize heavily on violence, they seem to be doing just fine.

I'd say the inferential and evaluative comprehension of the reader may not have been fully developed at high school.

It was a very well written piece.

 

[Springs]

Best article I've seen in a long time. He's said it all really.

Well done Gus.

 

[Bengal]

aving said that, as others have mentioned, the game has been changing for over 100 years. The article describes how it has been sanitised over the last 40 years yet objects to it being sanitised any further. As much as I dislike what is currently happening, the article doesn't make a lot of sense in this regard.

I think he?s referring to the reasons why we?re sanitizing the game right now - simple knee-jerk reactions to outside interests (including club doctors). It doesn?t take much imagination to work out what type of game League may eventually be if these outside interests continue to hold sway. In the past, change had been made in the interest of the game and its fans. Now, change is made to appease outside interests at the expense of the game and its fans. A colossal difference here in terms of why and who benefits most from change now days. Imagine it ? what will be the next trend doctors insist the game accommodate? What will next upset principals, teachers, sponsors and parents and what further adjustments will the game endure as a result. And again, who benefits from all these changes, the fans, the game, no - change benefits everyone but them. And when all is said and done, just how appealing will the game be as a result. This is the crux of his point ? the reason for change, who benefits from them and how appealing will the game be as a result.

A heap of sports penalize heavily on violence, they seem to be doing just fine.

Indeed they are, but not many of those sports have a reputation for toughness nor traded on such a reputation for many years. What underpins League is physical toughness. One could argue that what underpins some other sports is mental toughness, think Golf for example. One can imagine in the future the PC brigade protesting over the mental fatigue that such a game like Golf engenders. Oh the horror! It just isn?t good enough to be naturally talented, to be highly skilled ? people want to see such talents tested to their ultimate limits. That is why League is much more popular than Touch despite the later possessing many of the same skills like passing, handling, stepping, speed and vision. Rugby League is a great microcosm of life, in this instance 'toughness' equates to forwards laying the platform and 'skill' equates to the backs using the ball. What is happening to the game now is that the platform is being watered down and its arguable as to whether the backs seeing and using the ball more often as a result will equate to a better spectacle overall.

 

[Bengal]

Then I became interested in AFL. It was fast, skillful and bloody tough. I really liked the way you could shoulder charge someone from a 90 degree angle when they were looking the other way and clean the f**kers off their feet.

I must admit I underestimated just how tough that sport was once upon a time.