Wigan Warriors - wiganrugbyfans.com • Skerrett on coaching staff
There's absolutely no way we'll go back to the 'era of the biff, whether it was a bit of a myth or the reality. People might complain about the game becoming a bit sanitised but you only have to read the horror stories of people who have played contact sports and suffered multiple concussions to understand why all sports are taking a no nonsense approach to anything that could cause a serious head injury. If the shoulder charge was still legal imagine how many players would go off for concussion assessments during games.
It might not be as exciting but lets be honest, a shoulder charge is a very poor tackle technique, generally doesn't do what most coaches want a defender to do these days (wrap the ball and control the tackle) and increases the risk of the defender getting injured too.
Yes, a good scrap can be exciting in a game but I don't think Super League has gone down the route of a punch being a mandatory red card as someone suggested earlier in the thread. I don't even think it's a mandatory sin bin over here like in the NRL.
Either way, the sport is still tough without shoulder charges, it's still exciting without punch ups and thuggery. From the lowest level right up to the top the best thing about rugby league is the excitement generated from good attacking rugby and tough players (not dirty ones).
Dwindling crowds have more to do with rugby league's inability to make itself relevant to people, particularly young people, at a time when there are so many other things (and not just sports) that are trying to grab their attention. The sport isn't competing well enough for the money available, we've lost quality players from Super League and they haven't really been replaced and the whole sport just seems to be clinging on and surviving because it's struggling to generate that 'must watch' buzz that other sports or events can create. A fight in every game won't improve any of that. In fact often when a fight happens in a game it just makes it stop start and prevents any real rugby from happening.
It might not be as exciting but lets be honest, a shoulder charge is a very poor tackle technique, generally doesn't do what most coaches want a defender to do these days (wrap the ball and control the tackle) and increases the risk of the defender getting injured too.
Yes, a good scrap can be exciting in a game but I don't think Super League has gone down the route of a punch being a mandatory red card as someone suggested earlier in the thread. I don't even think it's a mandatory sin bin over here like in the NRL.
Either way, the sport is still tough without shoulder charges, it's still exciting without punch ups and thuggery. From the lowest level right up to the top the best thing about rugby league is the excitement generated from good attacking rugby and tough players (not dirty ones).
Dwindling crowds have more to do with rugby league's inability to make itself relevant to people, particularly young people, at a time when there are so many other things (and not just sports) that are trying to grab their attention. The sport isn't competing well enough for the money available, we've lost quality players from Super League and they haven't really been replaced and the whole sport just seems to be clinging on and surviving because it's struggling to generate that 'must watch' buzz that other sports or events can create. A fight in every game won't improve any of that. In fact often when a fight happens in a game it just makes it stop start and prevents any real rugby from happening.
Statistics: Posted by Cherry.Pie — Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:37 am — Replies 45 — Views 3318