Shoulder pads

[legs 11]

I played and grew up in the era of shoulder pads in the 1980's. Was just watching an old game from 1987...How come players stopped wearing them? were they proved useless? was it because players had got some much bigger? Curious as to why?

 

[Jankuloski]

Nah. I also played with them for 10 years, then I tore them. Considering it’s impossible to get them here, I played for a couple of months without them and just realized they make no sense.

You start with them in juniors because everyone around you is paranoid and it’s the least you can do. Then once you’re used to them, you feel antsy without them. It’s a self perpetuating circle.

 

[Travitoh]

Occasionally i came up against someone with shoulder/chest padding and i felt it was easier to make a tackle on them stick.

 

[OldPanther]

I wore them as a kid because I wasn't fond of tackling bigger blokes. Did half an hour of tackling practice with the trainer who was an adult (Under9s Rooty Hill) and never looked back.

 

[big hit!]

There are many players in the NRL like JT that still wear shoulder girdle pads. They're just not as bulky and cumbersome as they used to be. They're basically an undershirt with foam padding sewn into them rather than straps and shit which the NFL guys use. Those pads have a hard plastic shell with foam underneath. Rather than absorbing impact, they inflict it.

 

[kdalymc]

Probably same amount of blokes still wear em but they are like headgear- gone paper thin and barely noticeable (probably do nothing but boost confidence really)

 

[carcharias]

I wore them to look bigger

 

[Mr Angry]

You hit harder with the unpadded shoulder.

Protects the defenders shoulder and the attackers ribs.

 

[Perth Red]

Bit like the black make up under the eyes I think it was players just wanting to look like dan Mario or William perry! Got to love the 80’s. One of the best decades for music, fashion and sport ever!

 

[Zerô]

I stopped wearing shoulder pads when my mum started started wearing them

 

[Pig Hunter]

I didn't wear them because I was tough.

 

[Knight76]

I wore them for a few seasons, until I realised no-one else on the hill at Kurri sports ground was wearing em so I stopped, never looked back!

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Shoulder pads are actually effective, people just dont know what they are meant...

The point of shoulder pads is to stop cuts and scrapes, just like headgear. The problems come when come idiots expect shoulder pads to stop a 200kg gorilla from breaking your shoulder.

its just expectations.

 

[AJB1102]

I still wear shoulder pads. For a jog, to work, brunch on a Sunday. merkins don't f**k with me. Know damn well I'm up for snapping them half!

 

[Nuke]

Can you imagine a 1980's / 1990's style shoulder pads on an NRL player these days? They'd never get their skin-tight jersey on for starters..!

 

[legs 11]

Bit like the black make up under the eyes I think it was players just wanting to look like dan Mario or William perry! Got to love the 80’s. One of the best decades for music, fashion and sport ever!

yep i remember the black polish under the eyes for night games.....so we could see better...wtf...i liked it cause i felt like rambo...the big movie hit at the time haha

 

[POPEYE]

Shoulder pads were a security blanket hidden out of sight in the one-man-tent jerseys players used to wear, now supposedly replaced by Trapezius muscle with lighter material to show them off . . . hard to imagine Michael Neil without them

 

[T-Boon]

In the days before regular stats updates through the game, you could tell how much a player was putting in by the state of his shoulder pad set up.

 

[siv]

Bring back the fiberglass shoulder pads

 

[Rhino_NQ]

I had a pair of the big bulky ones in u/10s. Only lasted 2 seasons then grew out of them. Sam moa snapped my ac joint at high school a few years later and got one of the best type ones that was much more comfy and less noticeable. Had more confidence throwing my shoulder at people with something on it even if it didn’t make much difference