A double one on Rugby

Ds loves rugby. He's out training or at matches 3 or 4 times a week. He never complains, even in the coldest and wettest of weather. I'm happy he's found a sport he loves.

At the same time I'm very aware of the risks. My dad played rugby for 15 years and knew Doddie Weir personally so there's no hiding from that in our family. Ds knows the risks too.

I don't have the answers though. It's a balancing act and a guessing game. Like much of life.

To be fair to ballet, in adult recreational classes there are actually a wide range of bodies.

It’s teenage “serious” classes that boot you out if your legs are too long or your foot isn’t the right shape, because there is no chance of becoming a professional if you “look wrong”. Which is ludicrous because very few teenage ballerinas will ever get as far as a ballet company, but they could still have fun dancing.

I definitely don't have the right "body"
for ballet (not unless there is some serious reinforcement of the stage).

But I absolutely adore watching my DD play rugby which is much more inclusive of different body shapes.

We cycle to rugby! On the road, which is probably riskier than the 90 minute training session ever could be.

inclusive doesn't mean you HAVE to do it even if you hate it.

It means you CAN join in if you want to.

While you can't do ballet, or join so many other sports if you don't have the right body.

Yes, there's a risk, but there's a risk in everything and even more risk in not doing anything. Asking MN to stop promoting rugby is ridiculous. People have even died playing video games, that's hardly a sport.

Surely it’s up to you as a parent to decide what level of risk is acceptable? I played rugby quite seriously for years. There was one serious concussion of a teammate in that time. I believe it cost her her degree because of the timing right before exams.

I would think carefully before signing my children up to play rugby, but it’s nothing to do with Mumsnet.

You are being ridiculous.

On that I would agree - horses are bloody expensive and time consuming and not conducive with studying hard as a teenager (talking from experience).

Most things in life pose some level of risk. I have a suspected neurodiverse 8 year old. The rugby pitch is the only place I see him truly thrive - he's like a whippet out there and doesn't even glance in my direction for the hour each week he trains. We've tried other sports (football, martial arts, athletics, mountain biking) and nothing else comes close in terms of his engagement and enjoyment. To me, it's absolutely worth the risks to reap the benefits he gets from playing rugby.

I imagine “colouring in, quietly”, though they probably aren’t allowed to use a pencil sharpener unsupervised until sixth form.

Tut tut, don’t you know the tiddlywinks is a choking hazard? What if one of the little plastic circles bounced up into a child’s mouth? Or the risks of repetitive strain injury from repeated finger use? 😱

My neighbour's 14 year old son has been suffering with severe tinnitus since a head injury playing rugby 2 years ago.
Her younger boys will never set foot on a rugby pitch if she has anything to do with it.

He was one of mine too, his mop of blonde hair always made him stand out.

I don’t own my children, this ‘I wouldn’t encourage’ attitude is baffling. My eldest DS competes in MMA. He is autistic and it has helped massively with his ability to control impulse and aggression.
he also trains for 4 hours a day

i believe the most dangerous risk to young minds is screen addiction

What sport would you allow your DC to do OP....is tiddlywinks acceptable?!

So far you've ruled out a fair few sports I'm starting to wonder if you allow your children to do any sport....

I mean pretty much every sport comes with an injury risk somewhere....swimming - risk of drowning, dance - risk of broken ankles/damaged ligaments and knees, gymnastics- back, neck, arm and leg injury potential. Trampolining - more of the same as gymnastics.

He was one of of my favourite players back in the day and I'm so sad for him. Hearing him say about having to break the news to his mum (as an only child) was devastating.

I just looked this up OOI and of 1 milion registered male players (total) only 121,000 are actually adults (over 18) so barely anyone carries on for "decades and decades". It's tiny numbers.

no cars, they probably wouldn't be able to get to rugby training anyway. And air quality would be substantially improved. A substantial reduction in car use would probably do far more for overall public health than stopping rugby, which only a small proportion of people ever play. And an even smaller proportion of them play vigorously, frequently enough and over enough years for it to be of any tangible risk.

You win the medal for the most ridiculous post on MN this week