Paul Green dies aged 49

[Perth Red]

It is a tough one, but very interesting. Even such things as the kick off to start or restart play may become a thing of the past if they want to reduce the risks from big impacts.

Twenty years from now the game may be unrecognizable compared to its current form.

Maybe not a bad thing in terms of uptake of the game. Having said that what attracts people to League often is the toughness and that it is arguably the hardest game in the world to play from a contact sport point of view. I dont see that changing and so the game to still appeal to fans will need to retain a significant element of that.

Hopefully all these court cases fail badly and we can enjoy the game and accept there is risk if you play it.

 

[Wizardman]

Earlier today, the UFC has back a new competition called "Power Slap" which involves open face slapping a person. The two "idiots" take turns in slapping each other until one gets ko'ed or gives up.

https://www.facebook.com/UFCAUS

Dana White is an amazing businessman, but I just cannot support this sport in any kind of way. UFC today has a tremendous amount of fitness and skill towards it. This face slapping business involves next to no skill and a shitload of damage to the head.....repeated hits do the biggest damage to a person and this sport is full of repeated hits. The few people I know who are genuinely interested in martial arts hate it.

 

[The Great Dane]

Gladiatorial aspects of sport is what the couch potatoes love and there will always be a demand to watch it. whilst that demand exists there will always be players willing to take the risk for healthy financial reward.

Real gladiatorial combat would still exist if it were that simple.

I think what will happen to contact sports in the future will be much more comparable to restrictions on other products that can be dangerous to people’s health, such as smoking, drugs, etc.

At that point it won’t really matter whether informed adults choose to participate despite the risks. There will always be an authoritarian minority whom don’t understand why anybody would want to participate, and push for ever stronger restrictions until it’s effectively banned, and an uninterested majority whom allow it to happen because they don’t understand, or care, and it doesn’t effect them.

So contact sports are in very bad place, and I highly doubt that touch and/or tag are the solution.

 

[Smug Panther]

5 metre rule might work, inertia can also cause brain damage.

You'd need to go to 11 players or no one would ever score

 

[hrundi99]

The competition has to provide the safest environment they can. It's why F1 tracks have gravel and barriers etc.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

The competition has to provide the safest environment they can. It's why F1 tracks have gravel and barriers etc.

remember when people whinged about the halo until it saved a persons life

 

[Reflector]

remember when people whinged about the halo until it saved a persons life

The halo is badly designed though- only a matter of time before a driver is unable to exit the cockpit because they are trapped by the structure. Needs a twin roll bar (like sprint cars) with side netting (like NASCAR) that's easily removable.

We're also meant to believe that they went decades without such a device that was the safest period in F1 history, yet since 2018 suddenly there are all these accidents where the driver clearly would've died if not for the halo device?

That's a coincidence...

 

[LineBall]

You'd need to go to 11 players or no one would ever score

It sounds extreme, but these type of changes will probably be necessary to make the game safer and to keep it entertaining.

 

[The Predictor]

N

remember when people whinged about the halo until it saved a persons life

No

 

[Perth Red]

The competition has to provide the safest environment they can. It's why F1 tracks have gravel and barriers etc.

Like I said its about minimizing risk, not eliminating it

 

[Maximus]

We're also meant to believe that they went decades without such a device that was the safest period in F1 history, yet since 2018 suddenly there are all these accidents where the driver clearly would've died if not for the halo device?

That's a coincidence...

I'm confused what you are trying to argue here? There is no doubt Grosjean would have died without the halo. Also, everyone can see the pictures of Verstappen's wheel on Hamilton's head. What do you think happens to Hamilton without the halo?

 

[Perth Red]

Real gladiatorial combat would still exist if it were that simple.

I think what will happen to contact sports in the future will be much more comparable to restrictions on other products that can be dangerous to people’s health, such as smoking, drugs, etc.

At that point it won’t really matter whether informed adults choose to participate despite the risks. There will always be an authoritarian minority whom don’t understand why anybody would want to participate, and push for ever stronger restrictions until it’s effectively banned, and an uninterested majority whom allow it to happen because they don’t understand, or care, and it doesn’t effect them.

So contact sports are in very bad place, and I highly doubt that touch and/or tag are the solution.

Not really, as soon as they made murdering people under most circumstance illegal that was the end of the games lol

 

[taste2taste]

If head gear doesn't protect the brain then why do boxers rarely get KO'd in amateurs when wearing head gear but in professional bouts without head gear the majority of fights end in KO ?

Legitimate question not trying to troll.

 

[Canard]

If head gear doesn't protect the brain then why do boxers rarely get KO'd in amateurs when wearing head gear but in professional bouts without head gear the majority of fights end in KO ?

Legitimate question not trying to troll.

Headgear has been non mandatory in Amateur boxing for almost a decade now. The last 2 Olympics for example, didn't see them used much at all.

Amateur boxing is based on scoring punches and the power of them is irrelevant. For example you can knock someone down and it still only counts as one scoring punch. Better to conserve your energy then blow a gasket trying to KO someone.

The majority of professional bouts definitely don't end in knock outs, by the way.

 

[Perth Red]

If head gear doesn't protect the brain then why do boxers rarely get KO'd in amateurs when wearing head gear but in professional bouts without head gear the majority of fights end in KO ?

Legitimate question not trying to troll.

I belive, and I’m no boxer, it’s because amateurs are trained to score points whilst pros to ko. Also amateur bouts are much shorter. Fatigue causes guard to drop.

 

[Reflector]

I'm confused what you are trying to argue here? There is no doubt Grosjean would have died without the halo. Also, everyone can see the pictures of Verstappen's wheel on Hamilton's head. What do you think happens to Hamilton without the halo?

We had the safest period in F1 history without the halo device, but we're suddenly meant to believe every 'big' accident since 2018 would've definitely been a fatality without the halo. It came as the result of renewed focus on driver cockpit safety after Jules Bianchi's crash in 2014, yet it's agreed the halo device wouldn't have saved him. I get the governing bodies wanting to improve driver safety, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired both in pure aesthetics and the new problems it creates.

 

[Maximus]

We had the safest period in F1 history without the halo device, but we're suddenly meant to believe every 'big' accident since 2018 would've definitely been a fatality without the halo. It came as the result of renewed focus on driver cockpit safety after Jules Bianchi's crash in 2014, yet it's agreed the halo device wouldn't have saved him. I get the governing bodies wanting to improve driver safety, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired both in pure aesthetics and the new problems it creates.

Who says the bolded? You seemed to have made up that to argue against the halo because you personally don't like it. It wouldn't have saved Bianchi's life. It undoubtedly saved Grosjean's life. It undoubtedly saved Hamilton from serious head/neck injuries. There has been a few other F2 incidents similar to the Hamilton one where wheels would have landed on the driver's head if not for the halo. I don't believe there are many other, if any, incidents where anyone said there would be death if not for the halo.

Also, the only problem you seem to think it creates is to block the exit of the driver. They thought of that when it was first implemented


In its tests the FIA determined that there was no scenario where it felt that the halo might have to be removed after an accident, though it has allowed for that possibility.

"Are we sure that there is not one scenario where the halo is going to be completely deformed over the driver's head, and we would want to remove it?" says Mekies.

"At first, if this is happening, we would probably all be happy that the halo was fitted to the car in the first place, because if something deforms that device, you can only imagine what would have been without it.

"We investigated a lot of tools and equipment in order to cut the halo, and we sourced something that is small enough to fit in our medical car, and would cut the halo in no time.

"So even in a very extreme scenario that we couldn't exactly picture we feel that we can cut the halo in basically no time."

Tests show it would take two seconds to cut the front pillar, and five seconds apiece to cut the two rear supports.

F1’s halo cockpit protection device: six key myths and rumours busted

The FIA's decision to insist Formula 1 adopts the halo as cockpit protection for 2018 has prompted a backlash, but several myths around the device are easily dismissed

www.autosport.com

So it would take an extra 12 seconds to extract someone from an incident where the impact is so powerful that it deforms the halo device. What's worse, 12 seconds or likely death?

 

[Canard]

Who had, Paul Green memoriam thread descends into two Car racing fans arguing about a piece of carbon fibre on there LU bingo board?

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Rugby League unfortunately is f**ked!!!! Enjoy it while we can

It could morph into touch football, which would suck.

 

[Reflector]

Who says the bolded? You seemed to have made up that to argue against the halo because you personally don't like it. It wouldn't have saved Bianchi's life. It undoubtedly saved Grosjean's life. It undoubtedly saved Hamilton from serious head/neck injuries. There has been a few other F2 incidents similar to the Hamilton one where wheels would have landed on the driver's head if not for the halo. I don't believe there are many other, if any, incidents where anyone said there would be death if not for the halo.

Also, the only problem you seem to think it creates is to block the exit of the driver. They thought of that when it was first implemented


In its tests the FIA determined that there was no scenario where it felt that the halo might have to be removed after an accident, though it has allowed for that possibility.

"Are we sure that there is not one scenario where the halo is going to be completely deformed over the driver's head, and we would want to remove it?" says Mekies.

"At first, if this is happening, we would probably all be happy that the halo was fitted to the car in the first place, because if something deforms that device, you can only imagine what would have been without it.

"We investigated a lot of tools and equipment in order to cut the halo, and we sourced something that is small enough to fit in our medical car, and would cut the halo in no time.

"So even in a very extreme scenario that we couldn't exactly picture we feel that we can cut the halo in basically no time."

Tests show it would take two seconds to cut the front pillar, and five seconds apiece to cut the two rear supports.

F1’s halo cockpit protection device: six key myths and rumours busted

The FIA's decision to insist Formula 1 adopts the halo as cockpit protection for 2018 has prompted a backlash, but several myths around the device are easily dismissed

www.autosport.com

So it would take an extra 12 seconds to extract someone from an incident where the impact is so powerful that it deforms the halo device. What's worse, 12 seconds or likely death?

It seems every time there is a big accident nowadays, you get people going (insert driver) surely would've died if it weren't for the halo.

In terms of the driver clearing the cockpit, I wasn't thinking of the device being deformed but more the case that it can trap debris that would otherwise have cleared the cockpit/ cause the driver no clear escape if they are caught upside down.

Would not surprise me if eventually they go with the twin frame design (like a dune buggy) and side netting. This would be the sensible move.