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TheAVnerd t1_j9myppe wrote

Reply to comment by dapperdave in Calling all New England Sports fans: consider giving rugby a chance! by xcaughta

In the past…possibly. Now, no way. Rugby takes it very very seriously. There is very strict HIA (head injury assessment) protocol in which any player deemed hit to high or near the head or any suspected head injury is removed from the field to be assessed. It’s called the Recognize and Remove protocol. There is a crew watching all the camera angles and if they see something they don’t like they will call the player off the field.

Both my kids play rugby, and have been playing for 4-6 years, and they teach proper tackle and hit techniques. They are very serious about drilling it into the kids at a young age.

Edit: for those struggling with understanding or maybe only have a basic understanding and want to learn more a famous ref Wayne Barnes has been posting YouTube videos that are spectacular: https://youtube.com/@WayneBarnesRef

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dapperdave t1_j9nmckl wrote

Interesting. I played highschool football. No way I'll ever let my kids play something like that. I definitely sat through at least one math class with a concussion - but isn't there data that shows repeated sub-concussion injuries that cause issues too?

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Yeti_Poet t1_j9rl1re wrote

There is risk of brain injury from repeated hits in rugby, the risk is not zero and part of that is sub-concussive impact. There are lawsuits taking place currently in England around the issue, but those players played in an era where there were no substitutes (even for injuries, if you lost a player you played a man down), and players just clattered into each other at a sprint in lots of parts of the game. Even once substitutes became a part of the sport, the was (and of course still is, in some places) a culture of playing through "head knocks" and other injuries.

That said, rugby really has changed a lot recently, in order to try and preserve the sport while protecting players. Revisions are still ongoing, and only time will tell how effective they are. But it's a very different attitude toward head contact and brain injury than football has, where they still routinely use their helmets to make hits and have just removed the most flagrantly unsafe things (helmet to helmet targeting).

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