Thugs driving kids away from NRL

[Beaussie]

Anyone surprised this thug's game has junior registrations on the decline? AFL and Soccer seem to be benefitting.

Thugs driving kids away from NRL
Phil Rothfield
The Daily Telegraph

RUGBY league junior registration numbers are on the decline. At the same time AFL and soccer are on the rise.

This doesn’t require a major investigation to reveal why. The reason is that rugby league no longer acts on foul play.

Mums and dads are seeing what happens in the NRL every week and deem the sport too dangerous for their kids.

Earlier this season Manly forward Martin Taupau viciously and recklessly smashed Sharks centre Jack Bird in the head with a swinging arm that knocked him almost unconscious.

A dazed Bird came off for the rest of the game. Taupau stayed on and finished up getting one week.

I used to cover judiciary hearings in the days when Jim Comans was in charge.

I guarantee Taupau’s swinging arm would have led to a four to six-week ban in those days. Absolutely no doubt.

This season we have had seven instances of tripping. It used to be an immediate send-off and suspension. Look at the photo on this page of Paul Carter trying to bring down superstar Anthony Milford. What a disgrace. Again nothing happens.

Go back and have a look at the replay of the Rabbitohs v Broncos on Friday night. Look at Sam Burgess’ dog-act on an unprotected Joe Ofahengaue on the ground.

Look at Adam Blair’s late and high shot on Adam Reynolds, who is just back from a broken jaw.

This game was prime time television on Channel 9 and Fox Sports.

The referee Jared Maxwell showed he was completely out of his depth. That he didn’t at least use the sin bin is a disgrace.

I lost count of the number of times he warned both captains yet did nothing about it.

Todd Greenberg has been in the job for five weeks now as NRL chief executive.

The honeymoon period is now over. He replaced Dave Smith and got the top job in the game because he allegedly knew rugby league from the grassroots to the NRL.

Yet he has sat back every week and allowed tripping to become an epidemic in the game without even instructing his referees’ director Tony Archer to do something about it. The entire match-review and judiciary process needs to be overhauled.

There are too many ex-players on so-called independent committees that are determining how we deal with this thuggery. Ex-players are ex-players. They are old school and have no understanding of the damage that their lack of action creates.

Television is the gateway to the game. The front door for casual observers. Many of those switching on this year would find some of it unsavoury.

Over the weekend I asked the AFL’s respected critic and former Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy what an AFL player would cop for attacking a player on the ground like Burgess did.

“I’d think six to eight weeks,” he said.

It’s time Greenberg did something about it. Why do we even have an independent match-review committee and judiciary? Why don’t we just pick the best qualified people.

The best thing Greenberg’s predecessor Dave Smith did was introduce an automatic sin-binning for punching. It is no longer part of the game.

The same thing has to happen with all foul play. Use the sin bin and, like punching, it will soon stop.

The risk of leaving your team with 12 players for 10 minutes is a bigger deterrent than missing a game the following week.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6a60464327

[Swans4ever]

Doesn't help them having Jsh Reynolds give his opponents testicles a deep massage when he is feeding a scrum - seriously no way in the world I would want my son exposed to that when he's playing footy. Should have copped a year!

[Xman]

i skimmed over the article but did they have a source for their claims or registration numbers?

[AFLcrap1]

Lol sloth field

He never has any source .

& lol at Bea .
Another thread that will most certainly backfire .
He has an excellent strike rate in backfire threads .

[leagueiscrap]

What parent would want their child playing league in the first place!
90% of the game is thuggery and the other 9% is throwing & attempting to catch a 6 meter throw, they run with it under your arm!

[AFLcrap1]

Thuggery .
Lol
It's a collision sport .
It's not for everyone .

[Swans4ever]

Thuggery .
Lol
It's a collision sport .
It's not for everyone .

But isn't the biff and thuggery driving mums from sending little Johnny to play? Even AF experiences the same so why is RL any different?

[AFLcrap1]

There's always the protective mummy's who don't want little Johnny getting hurt .
Stories like this are trotted out regularly

That's why Sokka is so popular with the little kids

[Xman]

There's always the protective mummy's who don't want little Johnny getting hurt .
Stories like this are trotted out regularly

That's why Sokka is so popular with the little kids

which is funny given the violence in soccer crowds. I live right near a reasonable level soccer club and the crowds regularly get in to all in brawls. It's weird, they behave like blouses on the field and try to kill each other off it

[AFLcrap1]

Agree
But it's still seen as the softer/safer option .
No tackling where little Johnny might get hurt .

But usually by 8-9 a kid will be influenced by his mates at school if they are playing a contact sport .
Or he just wants his sport a bit rougher than Sokka so will gravitate to something else .

[Xman]

Agree
But it's still seen as the softer/safer option .
No tackling where little Johnny might get hurt .

But usually by 8-9 a kid will be influenced by his mates at school if they are playing a contact sport .
Or he just wants his sport a bit rougher than Sokka so will gravitate to something else .

same down here. Despite what is said on here Aussie rules can be very rough and injuries are common. Soccer is growing in junior ranks because its seen as the safer option. Shame its such a stupid game, I cant stand it.

[AFLcrap1]

Lol sloth field

He never has any source .

& lol at Bea .
Another thread that will most certainly backfire .
He has an excellent strike rate in backfire threads .

Like clockwork


RICHMOND star Alex Rance will face the music after being reported for an ugly — and cowardly — cheap shot on Jack Watts.

Rance was beaten in a marking contest late in the last quarter when he let frustration get the better of him and struck Watts to the back of the head as he laid face down on the ground.

The ugly incident sparked a melee on the ground as Melbourne players rushed the All Australian defender in the forward pocket.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/AFL/t ... 4389677243


Don't ya just hate it when the moral high ground crumbles underneath you

[Swans4ever]

Lol sloth field

He never has any source .

& lol at Bea .
Another thread that will most certainly backfire .
He has an excellent strike rate in backfire threads .

Like clockwork


RICHMOND star Alex Rance will face the music after being reported for an ugly — and cowardly — cheap shot on Jack Watts.

Rance was beaten in a marking contest late in the last quarter when he let frustration get the better of him and struck Watts to the back of the head as he laid face down on the ground.

The ugly incident sparked a melee on the ground as Melbourne players rushed the All Australian defender in the forward pocket.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/AFL/t ... 4389677243


Don't ya just hate it when the moral high ground crumbles underneath you

Cheap shot hope he gets 3

[Xman]

more of a stupid show of frustration than anything. He'll be suspended as he should but it was never going to cause any damage

[Swans4ever]

He got 2