NRL bans shoulder charges: a nation debates! Are all contributors all using their heads...???

Australian Rugby League will no longer shoulder the charge of promoting unacceptable tacking: by banning shoulder charges!

Club Doctors welcomed the move by the Australian Rugby League Commision and therefore the National Rugby League (NRL). They also have some support from the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) whom have had a ban in place domestically for 6 years.

But the social media and club wenbsites are alive with fans and players past or present railing against the move which has been said to have taken place without any consultation with the clubs or the Rugby League Players' Association (RPLA). However there had been a request for contributions to the review four months ago which has apparently yielded all of two player responses.

Fox Sports highlighted recent 'Big Hits'
http://bit.ly/UgP0dn

Now however they are super keen to voice their concerns, frequently via social media for example: 

(see here latest poster boy Sonny Bill Williams 

‏@SonnyBWilliams

You need good timing and technique to pull of a shoulder charge simply put if you can't do it don't try... This is league not tiddlywinks!! 

or Melbourne Storm hero Ryan Hoffman @RyanHoffman12
Banning the shoulder charge is going 2 result in some boring highlights packages. We run in2 people 4 a living.#dontbantheshouldercharge).

Even Club websites are running player opinions alongside the rider that their views are players' own and not necessarily the clubs: eg See Newcastle Knights Player Reactions.

RPLA boss David Garnsey made a statement: "The RPLA certainly wants its members to have long, productive and injury-free football careers and to enjoy good health once they have retired".

Fans of the game have been visceral in their support for hard hitting and shoulder charges, with respectable medical men such as John Orchard (Doctor to the Sydney Roosters) receiving appalling abuse on twitter for his support. To his credit he is retweeting such contacts to widen the debate.

At the core appear to be the difference in the perception of statistics between concerned opponents to the tackling and the rapacious supporters of physical contact whom suggest that the review's changes are based on limited injuries in a contact sport. 

Australian Rugby League Commission Review Findings

There was found to be 0.05% of tackles (all 142,355 of them) in 2012 happened to be shoulder charges with less than 4% of those resulting in injury to the attacking player, and less than 1% to the defender. As 17% resulted in contact with the head of the attacking player, there was felt to be a potential risk, and the Commission was said to have felt that the shoulder charge was "not a significant part of the game" and therefore its removal would "not likely to impact on the way the game is played".

This does not seem to be the case for fans of the game, and a vocal number of players past and present-the inevitable online petition has been started. The debate has led to mass publicity of significant numbers of sites and video clips of shoulder charges and 'big hits'.

Just one point from us: the average G-force of the shoulder charge was measured from accelerometer data, and demonstrated that a shoulder charge was 76% greater than a conventional head-on tackle.

Makes you think? At least a little...