Why are shoulder charges banned in union?

[Lego_Man]

Just wondering, i've never heard an explanation before.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Cos Union is, and always has, been determined to be as faggy as possible

 

[Dr Crane]

I want to know why it's a penalty if you knock down a pass.

 

[Iafeta]

Cos it hurts like a marthafark?

 

[The Camden Leisure Pirate]

Just wondering, i've never heard an explanation before.

Just to minimise harm to the ball runner.

 

[Corbin]

it really sucks, cause I'm a union (club) and league (school) player, and i always find myself going to attempt the Shoulder Charge league but have to think twice in union.

Lame.

 

[Kurt200]

because fiji would flog every1 otherwise

 

[Johns Magic]

My theory:

There's much more space in union and hence players run more angles and switches than in league and at a faster pace. This means that shoulder charges are far more likely to be mistimed.

In a match for my union team this year, our outside centre ran a line angling back in, and the opposing centre went for the flying shoulder charge, mistimed it due to the change of angle, and ended up headbutting him in the jaw.

Broken jaw, blood everywhere, our centre missed half the season through injury.

Running as a back in union is a lot different from running as a back in league.

 

[Turdy Angle]

League is a game where you always have the man on man defence and therefore can see who is going to shoulder charge you .
In rugby union you can have man on man or in many situation eight on one . So you could be running thinking there's only one defender but in reality they can come from many angles and by any of the 15 players in the opposition .
If you see the injuries in many AFL games from shoulder charge then you can imagine it would be twice as many in rugby union had it been allowed .

 

[shiznit]

i dont know about you guys but in NZ your not allowed to shoulder charge in RL until your in seniors.... i should know... ive been binned for it playing league...

 

[The Observer]

Because IRB lawmakers don't understand anatomy and physics, and can't tell the difference between the point of a shoulder and an elbow.

 

[jc155776]

Because shoulder charging is for people who cant tackle.

Why shoulder charge when you want to win the ball anyway?

 

[Matt23]

I thought it might have had something to with private school boys running to mummy everytime someone tackled them too hard

 

[Turdy Angle]

There's alot private school boys playing the game in New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji and Tonga .:roll:

 

[marshall stalin]

It sets a bad example for kids as they could go around and shoulder charge their parents/teachers /the elderly- imagine the uproar - kid 8 shoulder charges war veteran.:roll:

 

[Seth Gecko]

Having played league and mostly union I understand the mechanics of the shoulder charge and how it can be instinctive. In my opinion I'm glad that it isn't legal in rugby. Players are routinely bench pressing over 300 pounds thses days and the damage that a shoulder charge that comes off or is illegal can cause is huge. It's almost a duty of care in a workplace situation to not have it. One of my friends is hugely for it........ but is a bloke who's never played a game i his life and sees league, which he's obsessed with, as some kind of video game...... ie 'smash em'....... relaod for next week. There is a duty of care. I think that the tackle needs to include the arms.

I'm not soft and I can see both sides but players are only going to get stronger, especially with the Islander influx into both codes, and the target bodyparts are going to stay the same.