Should head gear be worn at any players discretion? Or only if you have a bonifide previous head injury? Is the advancement of head gear taking steps toward American Football?
Head Gear is as pointless as wearing a Brown Paper Bag to protect your face And I take it that picture is from the Early days of Gridion?
If it's pointless, then why do they continue to wear it? It sure as hell ain't stylish, cause them striped ones are heinous. Photo is of Harold 'Red' Grange, great old school player.
We don't have to worry. The scrum cap is mostly to avoid your ears getting torn off or damaged in some way and it does offer some minor protection for the head. The mouthguard will protect oyu more from concussion. The rules about padding of any kind is that it can't exceed 1 cm when uncompressed. So any shoulder pads, scrum caps, or shin pads will stick with rugby "custom" if you will.
It may not seem like a lot, but it can be quite effective in preventing injuries to the head. It is really a personal preference thing, helps to stop ear damage like someone above mentioned, and people may just want to wear it to feel a bit more comfortable in knowing they have some padding of the head. I for one can't stand it now, played a season and a bit with it, took it off, and loved it, trouble is I play lock and it can't be too good on the old ears
Anyone remember the days when forwards used to only tape their ears if they wanted any sort of protection? Why headgear, now, as it has only been consistently worn in the last 5 - 10 years? Are players becoming pussies, or is this a smart way of preventing injury? I only ask these questions, as they are the same ones asked that lead to the helmet in the NFL.
indeed,my little cousin tested one(gilbert braincell),dirty sanchez/jackass style.he collided full speed with a concrete wall and...survived,though he's kind of slow now (nah,I guess he always was that way)
Yep, just in case you encounter a concrete wall at high speed during a rugby game, its good to have the knowledge that you might survive
I wear one as a lock, mainly cos i got one or two lumps in my ear a few years back, and didn't want to look like martin johnson by my mid-20s. I reckon Josh Kronfeld should be on commission for the number of hats sold since RWC '95 - can't really remeber too many players wearing them before then, not isince those funny old fashioned leather ones.
Some RL players in the 70's recieved so many knocks to the head that they are having the ends of their fingers removed because there is no life in them at all. Maybe headguards are a good idea.
I can see the point in that but . . . Rugby (both codes) has always been a contact sport. Is there any room in the argument over headgear that players are slacking on proper techniques of tackling and being tackled? Is the rise in head injuries due to players playing more reckless? I'm not including freak accidents (which I've seen on the pitch) where players might collide into each other at high speed. I'm talking just in general.
For all the rules and emphasis set on proper tackling, it seems there are still problems with players trying to make themselves noticed as tough, strong players. If they can't score, they try and injure the most people possible. Developing a better scrum cap will always be a good thing. At the same time though with more protection comes more recklessness which means that if a cap could protect from any head blow that certain quality should be hidden. The fact that it offers protection should be good enough. Maybe there are stricter rules that can be imposed, who knows?
it sounds like you're blaming the injuries on tough,strong (and obviously frustrated) players who tackle hard/recover ball just because they're sooo unable to score points and want to get even.
I cant stand wearing head gear its just to hot for me to wear it but with me playing openside i kind of buck the trend of openside flankers wearing headgear
Well. Alot of the time it seems to be that way. I've noticed that more aggressive players in rucks and tackling do alot less playing with the rest of the team and scoring.
last time I checked,you couldn't score without the ball.IMO a player who defends hard/provides ball is more of a team player than a good finisher. anyway,big hits are part of the game..live with it or switch back to touch rugby.
Playing i New Zealand especially with the island players you see big hits all the time most of the time though you can avoid them easily when they fly at you just step them or if they line you up and go to hit a lot of the time they anticipate where you will be so just stop for a split second and they will hit the deck without touching you
It isn't pointless at all. I play centre and ripped my ear away from my head during one game, and had to have it glued back in place. From then on I've worn a scrum cap, and if I didn't I doubt whether my ear would still be attached to my head, so for me head gear serves a very useful purpose.
two weeks ago tomorrow, I dislocated my collarbone in a full speed collision with an opposing player who was merely angered at the lack of points his teams had scored. he was very apologetic but it was a bit too late, I'm now out for about a month. I play lock and I wear a scrum cap for two reasons: - the main one being that I have a habit of pulling back out of a scrum very quickley and without a scrum cap my ears would be in a props pocket. and the second being that it just gives me that slight added confidence I need to charge at some poor innocent center/fly half/winger/scrum half. but I think that when I was young, my parents enforced certain safety on me, and when playing rugby that included a scrum cap. and now I can't get out of the habit of wearing one and feel vunerable when I'm not.
