Quote ="Frank Whitcombe"Firstly, I'm glad your boy is going to be okay! As a father of two young girls the only thing I really worry about is keeping them safe, and I'm sure you were worried sick!
This thread has veered into a pet topic of mine namely player safety! I cringe when I hear commentators use terms like 'collision' and often with relish as if it's something to be proud of? Rugby league has become a very dangerous sport with multiple injuries per game often serious with squads not big enough to cope and players playing injured!
We need to think long and hard about where the sport goes really and we could be at a crossroads a la American Football per helmets.
I'd be interested on everyone's thoughts or is just me?'"
I know where you're coming from but I doubt that things will change.
It's a game played by (mostly)young men in a testosterone fuelled atmosphere; it is, in the forwards particularly, a game where showing who is the 'hardest' is important to the players, and it is the players themselves who make it like that, and let's be honest, enjoy it like that.
It IS different for parents, I agree. We're back to the old parental thinking where it was alright for me to do that when I was a kid - but you're frightened to death when you see your son doing it. This is the same whether your kid is climbing a tree or cliff or playing a physical collision sport like RL. What I'm not so sure about is how you take the danger out without totally changing the game, to be honest. Truth is I don't really think you can.
