Continuing our series on the state of rugby in NZ.
Rugby is safe for children to play, more than two-thirds of New Zealanders say, but some schools have banned their students from playing it unsupervised.
A DigiPoll of 600 people for nzherald.co.nz shows 72.6 per cent of people think rugby is safe while 26.1 per cent say it is not
safe and 1.3 per cent did not know or refused to answer.
The confidence of the public comes despite there having been 173 claims to ACC for rugby injuries from under-14s in the 2008-2009 year.
The pay-outs cost $621,000, up from $435,000 four years earlier when there were 150 less claims. (See the full table below.)
The number of injuries needs to be seen in context with 73,000 children playing an average of 10 games each per season.
However, primary schools often ban children from playing rugby without adult supervision.
Francis Nelson, president of the New Zealand Educational Institute, said schools began banning unsupervised rugby in playgrounds in the last ten years.
She said young people have to be taught how to play rugby properly and primary schools run their own competitions for boys and girls.
"It's good for the kids to play the sport but we don't want to risk them learning bad habits and getting injured," Ms Nelson said.
Mt Eden Normal Primary School principal John Faire said all contact sport there must have an adult supervisor.
"We've found that works really well for us," Mr Faire said.
He said touch rugby can be played without an adult present but not contact sport, including rugby and bull rush.
"We decided to do that in 2004. Parents were saying to us we'd like to see more sport. We looked around for interested persons and at that stage we made a blanket rule that contact had to be supervised," Mr Faire said.
He said school rugby coaches must register with the local union and undergo training.
Small Blacks
The New Zealand Rugby Union's Small Blacks programme has been in place since 2004 and includes teams of under-6s up to under-13s.
Its general manager of community and provincial rugby Brent Anderson said the under-6 teams play seven-a-side, known as "ripper rugby". The players have velcro tags on their hips and a player is tackled when these are removed by a member of the opposition.
When players reach the under-8 side they are taught how to tackle and play in a 10-a-side team until they reach the under-11 team and play 15-a-side. The scrum and lineouts are also added although there is no pushing in the scrum until they reach the under-11 team.
"It's a progression and we are trying to make sure that everything about the game meets the kids' physical ability to play," Mr Anderson said.
He said the ball and field size are also changed to make the game more accessible.
Mr Anderson said coaches are taken through compulsory programmes where they learn how to teach young players ball skills and how to tackle.
He said it has been years since a serious injury has happened in a scrum.
"Kids at this age just can't generate the power," Mr Anderson said
He said any parents with concerns about safety in rugby should talk to their local union and have a look at the game.
"The game is fun and enjoyable for the kids and they love playing it," Mr Anderson said.
He said the NZRU is trying to get parents involved in the game - as both coaches and spectators.
"That includes behaving appropriately on the sideline and realising it is kids running around having fun," he said.
"We did some research with kids in focus groups when we were putting this together and they said: We just want to have fun with our mates," Mr Anderson said.
The Herald DigiPoll was undertaken between January 29 and February 10. It had a sample of 600 and a margin of error of +/- 4 per cent.
ACC claims by under-14s for rugby injuries:
