Rugby’s character flaw could prove fatal if we prioritise silverware over safety - Alice Soper

OPINION

In 2016, I split my knee open in a freak accident at training. It was the week of our Farah Palmer Cup semi-final against Counties Manukau, a team I always loved to play. I am not great with blood so my first question to our team’s physio was can you cover the wound as soon as I move my hand? The second was, can I play on Saturday? The 15 stitches and leg brace answered that one for me.

One of the first things I loved about the sport was the sense of resilience I felt popping back up after being flattened by my opposition. The strange sort of pride attached to the scrapbook of bruises you collect during a season. Never mind the fact that half of them are from your own boots, rugby loves to tell tales of putting your body on the line.

There was Buck Shelford, losing teeth and almost a testicle in a match against France. Norm Hewitt’s broken arm lifting the 2000 NPC trophy for Wellington. Richie McCaw winning the 2011 World Cup with a fractured foot. And this week in France, there’s another myth being made as Antoine Dupont is exploring the option of a protective mask for his facial fracture. Trying everything he can to play in a home quarter-final.

Our fascination with these feats tells us much about our sport’s culture. Our fans’ reverence for a lack of self-preservation is in direct odds with initiatives to improve player welfare. We want to do everything we can to play on, but should we? These short-term decisions have been proven to have long-term consequences.

Over 250 players have joined a lawsuit in England against their rugby union for the brain-related injuries they suffered during their playing careers. Amongst them, Carl Hayman, who started his career famously as All Black number 1000. Now Hayman is perhaps more well known for speaking out about his struggles with dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. If any of those players were to speak to their younger selves, there is no doubt they would advise them of the real cost of winning.

Rugby is a contact sport and so injury it’s loyal teammate. There have been more than 33,000 ACC claims for rugby in New Zealand to date this year. It’s a fact of rugby life so we need to start factoring it in. Explain to all newcomers that injury, alongside skills and game awareness, is just another thing for a rugby player to learn to manage. World Rugby is slowly doing its part through law changes and research is informing the coaching of new techniques. As fans, we also need to do our part to adjust our expectations.

When news breaks of an injury, let’s shift the immediate focus away from how we get that player back on the pitch. Let’s not add to the noise to allow the player to listen to their body. Rather than produce legends from those who played on, let’s celebrate those who stepped up - injury being our chance to restore balance for the athlete and create depth for the team list.

The best and the worst part of sport is that so many moving parts need to align to achieve success. A season, a tournament, a match, all rely on the bounce of the ball going your way. True character is revealed when the pressure is applied. Rugby’s character flaw could prove fatal if we continue to prioritise silverware over safety.