14 yo girl broken bones after playing rugby against a 14 yo boy.

Whilst a mismatch of body weight is a concern, trust me, plenty plenty of all biological female rugby games end in injury. The fact it was mixed sex is not necessarily the reason

If you're going to play a full contact sport, you need to accept that injury is a very high possibility.

For what it's worth, I don't think girls and boys should be playing contact sports against each other (tbh, I don't think girls should be playing full contact sports at all because of how much more susceptible they are to knee and hip injuries), but this ain't it. She very realistically could have sustained that injury playing against the smallest girl in school because she doesn't know how to fall and clearly doesn't have very strong/flexible feet (I'm willing to bet she's no ballerina). It's certainly not the boy's fault.

It's about size and power with rugby not gender.
A boy of the same build would of got the same injury. Rugby by the nature of the game is rough and aggressive

OP, there are ongoing issues about trans-female players being able to join female teams and the danger this presents but your scenario is totally different- mates mucking about in the park and an accident.

Yes of course you can break bones from landing badly in a tackle (which is how my daughter did it). I have absolutely no doubt though, that had she been tackled by a boy of the same age, it would have meant the difference between the break being non displaced, or more serious and requiring pins/multiple ops.
Just because a sport is inherrently dangerous, it doesn't need to be made moreso by allowing males to play against females.

And it's surprising to girls (and maybe boys too) because the way society has tried to tackle equality is to insist that there are no differences of this kind.

This thread is bonkers.

So.... what is the effect of landing position of coming into contact, in anyway, with a body moving faster and more powerfully than another female of the same age? It doesn’t have to be a tackle, just a very fast moving body destabilizing someone.

[quote AssassinatedBeauty]@Creepygnochi right so "ice mum" means parent of a child who does figure skating.

Despite your experience of watching several children a month break their feet, you were not there, you have no idea what was broken or how. Certainly the children involved seem to think it was related to the size/weight/strength of the boy involved. It is not possible for you to decisively state otherwise.

Regardless, it is accepted by the various rugby authorities that at this age, boys and girls should not be playing or training together. That is for very valid reasons. [/quote]
Yes, it is. You can't break a foot from pressure alone, unless it is applied directly to the foot. The knees would give out first, they are the pressure pads of the body. Unless he cannonballed her foot, the break would have been caused by getting stuck at an awkward angle past the point of natural motion. That's just basic physics and anatomy.

@LastRoloIsMine I hope your DD's friend is OK. I wouldn't be happy with my DDs doing this with their mates, for the very reasons I am opposed to men playing for women's rugby teams eg risk of injury and safety. I also wouldn't want my DSs playing with a mixed sex group (they wouldn't these days anyway as they understand the risks but there is sometimes a time period when DSs grow so quickly and don't appreciate how much bigger they are)

"So yeah, think it's fair to say that I know more about foot injuries than any rugby player, ever."

Seriously?

So yeah, think it's fair to say you're making yourself sound like a pompous twat than any rugby player, ever.

Have you heard yourself? "Ice sports mum"

It would have been a stress break from being forced into a sudden unnatural angle, hence the multiple fractures

So you don't think the force of the tackle had any relevance at all? I find that hard to believe. I can see your point and I don't have the expertise/authority to disagree with you but a male barrelling into you as opposed to a lighter/less strong female has to have an impact in terms of the damage done surely?

@Creepygnochi right so "ice mum" means parent of a child who does figure skating.

Despite your experience of watching several children a month break their feet, you were not there, you have no idea what was broken or how. Certainly the children involved seem to think it was related to the size/weight/strength of the boy involved. It is not possible for you to decisively state otherwise.

Regardless, it is accepted by the various rugby authorities that at this age, boys and girls should not be playing or training together. That is for very valid reasons.

Professional rugby players or even those with club training know how to avoid injury and there are all kinds of rules on how they are allowed to tackle, body position, tackling in the air etc and severe penalties for any dangerous actions.

World Rugby's conclusion based on evidence was that male rugby players at top levels should not compete or train with women due to significant increase risk of injury.
That risk is not mitigated by skill acquisition.

I don't think girls should play rugby.

I don’t agree that biological males should play contact sport against biological females.

BUT. I think your logic is skewed in this. You’re saying that this happened with a group of teens messing around so would be worse with professionals. Actually I think an unregulated group of teens with no training doing stupid things like tackling one another is far more likely to end in injury. Professional rugby players or even those with club training know how to avoid injury and there are all kinds of rules on how they are allowed to tackle, body position, tackling in the air etc and severe penalties for any dangerous actions.

Assassinated

Not sure if you realise this, but the physical mechanics of the foot is exactly the same no matter what it is doing. The real key difference is that in my sport 20 percent of all athletes retire as a direct result of a foot injury, which is to be expected really when you consider the sport is essentially encasing the foot in a leather encrusted cast with a four inch freshly sharpened blade attached to the bottom that you then use to move 50mph on the worlds most slippery surface, throw yourself up into the air as high as you can to complete 4 full body rotations in under a second, before landing on said slippery surface on a single foot at the force of a 1000lbs.

So yeah, think it's fair to say that I know more about foot injuries than any rugby player, ever.

Play contact sports and injuries will happen

Fairly certain women vs women rugby results in broken bones too

Maybe they could play badminton?

I don't think the governing bodies actually care, imo, as long as they are being inclusive

Not even that. Their money comes from olympic medals, so they will do whatever it takes to get those olympic medals.

Doping, abuse, including natal men in women’s sport. Anything.

NGB’s are nothing without money, therefore without olympic medals they are nothing. It is utterly ruthless the lengths they will go to. Athletes are no more than a product to them, and if one is injured or dies, there’ll just pick someone else.

14 year old boys and girls don't play mixed rugby for very good reasons. This friendship group should stop now they are of that age and switch to something non contact.

Rounders is a good game for mixed sex and all ages to join in with.