AIBU to fret about rugby playing family members?

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

AIBU - DH played for years; relatively high level but not professional. Other family members too.

I can’t help but worry with the increasing reports of brain disease.

But what’s the point of worrying? The damage is done.

Why is this sport even still played as it is?

I am from a rugby family and never ever thought I would say this but I don't want my son to play rugby, unless some real changes are made to make it safer.

I hate seeing young players of 18/19 being introduced in first team matches with grown men in their mid twenties onwards. The violence towards the youngsters can be shocking and even the commentators can still revel in it - 'what a hit, welcome to test rugby!'
The last straw for me was seeing the poor lad Owen Farrell put a huge hit on recently. He was about 18, just starting his career and the media reported it as a 'season ending' hit. Appalling.
And yes, I worry about my male relatives, all of whom have suffered horrific injuries and concussions over the years. My brother has haematomas in his knees, my other brother had a metal plate in his jaw after it was broken in 2 places by a deliberate elbow in the face at speed and my dad cant breathe and sleep properly due to a multiple broken nose, still has a pin in his collarbone and parts of his knee 'float' internally. Just awful.

Just to clarify what I mean about this being a different disease, while there have always been rare cases of sudden catastrophic injuries in rugby, this new disease is something the symptoms of which emerge slowly over time, years later, after the professional athlete has retired from the game, and is apparently a consequence of hundreds of smaller knocks, not one or two big concussions.

(Getting my information from the Hollywood movie, I'm sure someone more qualified to talk about it will be along shortly.)

I think in terms of the attritional injuries talked about by @SanFrancisco49er, this has been something that has been well known in the game since its inception. My grandfather has his finger bent at an odd angle, my uncle has no cartilage in his nose, and my dad is about an inch shorter than when he started. But despite this they all love the game and has been a huge part of their lives, and if you asked them they'd do it again. In terms of the catastrophic injuries, I'm sure road cyclists would not stop their sport due to the quite real threat of death, and clearly this is the same for rugby. I can totally get why you wouldn't want your children to play, but any adult playing will no the second they talk to anyone at a club that they are likely to incur not insignificant injuries, but they still choose to play and as far as I'm concerned it is at their own risk.

Know*

My teen daughter plays (touch at the moment because of COVID rules but usually full contact). I worry.

I may be ignorant but isn’t Rugby one of those dangerous sports that you know the risks of before you play it, but you play it anyway?

Like boxing, wrestling, martial arts, horse riding, winter sports, water sports, etc?
I wouldn’t call any of those safe.

I think the issue at the moment is that, since the game went pro, the size of professional players has increased massively. For example in 1991, the average weight of the England players was 94kg, compared to 105kg today. Billy Vunipola is 126kg, and the pack weight is 942kg, whereas Wade Dooley was only 112kg and the pack weight was around 833kg. The backs are also all much heavier - Slade and Ford are the only two under 90kgs - but in the 90s, the heaviest back was 88kg.

But that is international level. And the furore at the moment is to do with CTE, which is probably a result of the much much bigger impacts that the heavier (and more powerful - definitely no fatties on the pitch these days) so I think is probably more of an issue with professional players that at amateur level.

Certainly, at junior level the risk assessments, especially for head injuries, are way more informed, thorough and taken seriously than they ever were when I was playing (90s/00s). I do not feel that the risks to children playing are any greater than for horse riding/ mountain biking /skiing. So, OP, I think you are being unreasonable, and I very much hope that you can find the research that stops you worrying unnecessarily.

RandomLondoner I was talking about all the related injuries not just CTE....keep sticking your head in sand...

@Bearnecessity - the incidence of catastrophic injury (i.e. life changing) in rugby is not actually that high - in the UK it's about 0.8/100,000 and the risk is "comparable with that experienced by most people in work-based situations" and indeed lower than that experienced by motorcyclists, pedestrians and car occupants (Fuller, 2008).

Data on non-catastrophic injury is harder to find, as there isn't consistency in reporting, but anecdotally, the incidence of things like ACL tears is supposedly higher in football and netball than rugby. For me, a risk of a non-catastrophic injury is not something I would be (or ever was) overly concerned about in any sport, and I have done an ACL and an MCL (one turning around in my bedroom, one skiing at very low speed) - life is there to be lived, and if we try to avoid ALL injury, we end up not living.

YANBU, just need to think about how to ensure regular medical check-ups for your DH.

The change in the game since professionalism was a point well made.

I am not risk averse Whatwill both I and my ds are happily living life fully thank you...why do people on here have to take things to extremes which were not ever the original intent of the Op. Neither in my original post was I talking about just 'catastrophic' injuries. The non-reporting of injuries is widespread, the data that does exist is deficient and unreliable.