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School rugby is dangerous according to British researchers

British public health professors claim that children playing rugby at school is dangerous

As the British government launches a plan to increase competitive sports in schools, researchers issued a warning about children playing rugby, stating that one in eight risk serious injury.

Contact sports, including rugby, are dangerous for children, according to public health professor Allyson Pollock of Queen Mary University of London and her colleagues.

Every year, these children have a 10% chance of suffering an injury serious enough to keep them off the pitch for seven days. Some injuries may be light, while others may cause permanent damage. According to these doctors, concussions and spinal injuries are the most serious injuries in rugby, where studies have found that most injuries occur during the tackle but that scrums are the most dangerous phase of play.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also states that not enough is being done by the government to put in place injury monitoring and prevention strategies. Contrary to New Zealand, the land of rugby, Great Britain is not capable of protecting its young players.

This warning comes at a time when the country wants to encourage the practice of competitive sports. In 2012, under the auspices of the Minister of Culture, Jeremy Hunt, the government announced a plan to put links in place between schools and sporting clubs (including soccer and rugby).

Without going so far as to advocate banning the sport, whose physical and social benefits are undeniable, professor Pollock described herself as "worried" by the plan and recommends that injury surveillance and prevention programs be established in schools. The professor also added that having children play according to size instead of age, and having fewer players on the pitch at the same time, could help reduce the frequency and severity of injuries.

First aid and basic response equipment should also be available on every pitch. As for the coaches, they should all be trained in injury prevention techniques and how to adequately deal with injuries that can result from contact sports.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has said that first measures have been taken to make the sport safer. A new collaboration between the RFU and the University of Bath aims to collect injury data from participating schools and to develop new warm-up and training programs.

Last January, Michael Carter, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, had already sounded the alarm in the British Medical Journal by precisely documenting 20 injuries that had occurred in this sport. Dr. Carter said that schools and sporting clubs should work together to deal with the risks faced by children, and has also called for creative match scheduling as well as preseason and early season strength and conditioning training to minimize those risks.