OPINION – Proposed Tackle Height Changes – View of a Rugby Club Chairman

I have been involved in Rugby since I was a child…my family has over a century of amateur Rugby playing history from my grandfather in the 1920s through to my son and daughter currently playing rugby at university and club level..

I have been Chairman of Rugby at Manchester Rugby Club, one of the founding members of the RFU in 1871, for the past three seasons. I was M&J Chairman of Manchester Rugby Club for seven seasons prior to that…I coached my son’s team for 12 years from u6s through to Senior Colts and have also qualified as a referee…

Our game is the greatest and most inclusive sport there is, all shapes and sizes are welcomed and have an integral part to play. I have played with players who are 6ft 8in and players who are barely 5ft tall…

In recent years the subject of concussion has quite rightly been brought to the forefront and the sport is far more aware of it now and has much greater and robust processes in place to manage concussion….when I started as a coach we didn’t even record a concussion nor was there a return to play protocol, we would merely ask if the player was ok and if they said they were fine they would play on or sit out and return the next week…within 12 years this has fundamentally changed for the good, the Remove the Player and Return to Play Protocol has been put in place and is religiously followed…

The game has also been made safer with a focus on reducing the tackle height from the shoulder to the armpit and other changes regarding sanctions for head collisions making players much more aware of themselves and their actions and hence they are looking to play the game in a safer way…

However, the latest change announced by the RFU on changing the tackle height further to below the waist I strongly feel is a step too far…and will fundamentally change the fabric of the game. Is there to be no challenge for the ball in the tackle? Are we asking players to tackle lower and lower and risk coming into contact with fast moving feet and high rising pumping knees? If a player picks and goes from the base of a ruck there will be no way of tackling that player……

When I explained this to my 5ft 2in 14yr old daughter she immediately became worried? ‘How will a person much taller than me tackle me now? They will have to bend really far down and then all their weight will go down through into my legs…it’ll hurt a lot more’ The speed of the game that my daughter plays is slower and the risks of concussion less, however encouraging further lowering of the tackle height will put the players tackling at higher risk…

Backing this up is the study carried out by The British Journal of Sports Medicine in 126 games where the tackle height was reduced. It concluded that there was no higher incidence of concussion for the ball carrier but lowering the tackle height actually increased the incidence of concussion in the tackler.

The amateur game has many challenges to deal with, funding levels are reduced, clubs are struggling week in week out to field teams, stay afloat, and keep players interested…a fundamental change to the way the game is played such as this will only serve to put more players off. Low level social rugby will stop, many vets players can’t bend at the hips very well, they enjoy low paced body on body contact, enjoy a bit of a cuddle then they fall on the floor, the pace of the game is so low the risk of concussion is greatly negated…as is often said about 3^rd and 4^th team games “it’s like rugby but in slow motion”.

The final issue is how this has been agreed and communicated? Where is the science and research, where is the lengthy trial that has been put in place, where is the consultation with the players and the clubs? We have had nothing, yet the game is thrown into turmoil by this announcement, and we are all scratching our head saying “Why?’

Since yesterday’s announcement I have canvassed our players (100% against the change) but more importantly canvassed the parents of our Mini and Junior players. In every case they agree that making the game safer is a good thing, and that the game and the way player safety is managed had drastically improved. When I explained the proposed changes and where the children would now be coached to tackle, they were more worried for their safety than less. Mandating headguards up to the age of 19 was the biggest suggestion for increasing safety, not changing how the players tackled.  

One parent commented “My lad idolises Tom Curry, he wants to tackle like him, do I now have to tell him you can’t do that unless you’re a professional. So, he can watch them do something but then he can’t replicate his hero? Why?’

When players step on a field or parents take their children to play rugby they are aware of the risks that there are collisions in rugby and people run into each other. They know it’s a risk and they are happy for it to continue as long as the referee controls the game and the laws are adhered to. Changing the tackle height is not the way to improve safety, in our opinion, it is quite the reverse….

The game that has always been for all shapes and sizes will cease to be so. Never have I seen the governing body of a sport make such a fundamental change that will fundamentally damage the make up if its own sport.

Tim Holmes is the chairman of Manchester Rugby Club.

Photo by Max Leveridge on Unsplash