L
Little Richardjohn
Guest
Every rugby correspondent this year has spent hundreds of words and trees bemoaning the death of midfield play, the density of the laws, and the horrendous injury toll.
The reason fo0r all these shackles on the modern game is simply that in effect, the pitches have been getting smaller for the last decade, and more. But especially since professionalisation and the industrialised training. Martyn Williams calls it 'players outgrowing their bodies.' But in doing so, they've also outgrown the size of the pitch, which hasn't been officially changed since Twickers was a cabbage patch. Probably the one law which hasn't ever been tinkered with, and the one which now needs it the most.
Give modern players more room to move and think - the same amount that the players of the past did - and we will see the same degree of open play some of us remember, and reverse the current homogenisation of body type which is so fatal to the game as a spectacle.
Make the pitch wider.
The reason fo0r all these shackles on the modern game is simply that in effect, the pitches have been getting smaller for the last decade, and more. But especially since professionalisation and the industrialised training. Martyn Williams calls it 'players outgrowing their bodies.' But in doing so, they've also outgrown the size of the pitch, which hasn't been officially changed since Twickers was a cabbage patch. Probably the one law which hasn't ever been tinkered with, and the one which now needs it the most.
Give modern players more room to move and think - the same amount that the players of the past did - and we will see the same degree of open play some of us remember, and reverse the current homogenisation of body type which is so fatal to the game as a spectacle.
Make the pitch wider.