Neck Injuries

[KieranW]

Was playing in a match today - a lad had to go off due to a neck injury (don't know if it was a maul or ruck, but it was at a breakdown) but walked off the pitch and lay down on the side. 5 Minutes later the game was stopped - things had got serious and an ambulance was called. Not long after that arrived an air ambulance was here and he's now in a hospital ward. He was speaking when I last saw him, so I hopeful he's going to be alright, but its one aspect about rugby that nobody likes. Broken legs and coller bones etc are certainly painful but at the end of the day they're not too serious, whereas a neck injury could potentially cause someone to become a paraplegic and change their life forever. Is there any way that this kind of thing could be prevented from happening more often? Clearly better coaching would improve things, but maybe saying any kind of contact to the neck with force is a straight sin bin at the very least, or specifically mentioning it in the pre match talk with the captains (similar to the talk with the FR)? I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

 

[Davet]

walked off the pitch and lay down on the side. 5 Minutes later the game was stopped - things had got serious and an ambulance was called

I don't want to sound unduly harsh - but what benefit was there in stopping the game?

 

[Davet]

The other side of the coin is neck exercises - see a competent physio and get advice on strengthening the neck muscles.

As a referee ensure the scrum is managed properly and that players have head and shoulders above hips at scrums and rucks, clamp down fast on high tackles and neck scrags.

You can't say any contact with the neck is a sinbin - there are occasions when the attempted tackle is thwarted by a player ducking low and it becomes a high tackle - we need to be sensible.

 

[Dixie]

Was playing in a match today - a lad had to go off due to a neck injury (don't know if it was a maul or ruck, but it was at a breakdown) but walked off the pitch and lay down on the side. 5 Minutes later the game was stopped - things had got serious and an ambulance was called.

Why was the game stopped? The injured lad was not playing. Would the referee have stopped the game if a spectator was taken ill?

Is there any way that this kind of thing could be prevented from happening more often?

Quite a lot is already being done - much of against the inbuilt conservatism of the rugby establishment. Remember the outcry against Allain Rolland's perfectly accurate red card shown to Sam Warburton in the RWC? The offence was a tip-tackle putting the ball carrier at risk of landing on his neck. The loud, uninformed and thoughtless reaction of the highly-paid talking heads was that Rolland had unnecessarily ruined a very promising game, and (given the ultimate scoreline) was single-handedly responsible for terminating Wales's tournament. No-one thought to criticise the player for putting his opponent's life at risk, and no-one thought to praise Rolland for accurately implementing an important initiative to reduce the number of neck injuries in the game.

There are clear risks involved in your approach of an automatic card. If my team faces an immeasurably superior opposition, can I get one or more sent off (or at least yellow carded) by ducking into high-ish tackles so that the tackler makes contact with my neck? If I were to go down this route, would a ref who got wise to my tactic be justified in red carding me? And if so, wouldn't there be the potential for huge disparity of application (one ref gives a :norc: to Blue, the other gives a :norc: to Green. Ultimately, dangerous play is for the referee to sanction appropriately. Even the tip tackle guidance recognises that there may be cases where the mere PK for the dangerous play may be the appropriate sanction.

 

[KieranW]

I don't want to sound unduly harsh - but what benefit was there in stopping the game?

The referee had to see to him until the ambulance arrived - and later the pitch was used for the helicopter to land

 

[KieranW]

There are clear risks involved in your approach of an automatic card.

I only suggested it to start a discussion - I agree with what you've just said. This is clearly an extreme suggetion.

 

[OB..]

Danny Hearn broke his neck tackling an All Black. Should the All Black have been sent off?

 

[Dixie]

The referee had to see to him until the ambulance arrived - and later the pitch was used for the helicopter to land

Very bad practice, unless the referee was the sole medically trained person there. There may well have been extenuating circumstances here, but as a rule of thumb, the referee's job when an injury occurs is to ensure that it is safe for the team's support personnel to come to the player's aid. If this was a university game, the uni should have medical support on standby; it certainly shouldn't need to rely on an unaffiliated referee.

 

[Dixie]

Should the All Black have been sent off?

Is this a trick question?

 

[KieranW]

Very bad practice, unless the referee was the sole medically trained person there. There may well have been extenuating circumstances here, but as a rule of thumb, the referee's job when an injury occurs is to ensure that it is safe for the team's support personnel to come to the player's aid. If this was a university game, the uni should have medical support on standby; it certainly shouldn't need to rely on an unaffiliated referee.

It was between two teams of a college - not a league game. And it wasn't a society referee either. Anyway I believe it continued after medical staff arrived - I wouldn't know as I was sent to direct the ambulance.

 

[Davet]

where were the physios?

 

[crossref]

some times the game stops because, in fact, it seems serious and no one really wants to play any more.

 

[KieranW]

for anyone interested - he's been discharged and the news seems to be positive.

 

[tim White]

Yes we were interested, thanks for letting us know. I would have been worried if he had been discharged and the outlook was negative.

 

[KieranW]

Yes we were interested, thanks for letting us know. I would have been worried if he had been discharged and the outlook was negative.

Well you never know...the daily mail are always going on about how crowded and understaffed the NHS is. At least I presume they are, but I can't hear them for the bull**** they're saying.

 

[Account Deleted]

There seems to be an increase in front row forwards retiring due to neck injuries in the pro game. I wonder why? Nothing to do with pro refs playing on at collapsed scrums I'm sure.

 

[Dickie E]

Is this a trick question?

OB.. is using a reductio ad absurdum form of argument

 

[ChrisR]

Shit happens.

Yes, please penalize high tackles and other dangerous actions. But be realistic with the cards.

Neck injuries can happen in collapsed scrums. They can also happen when one prop drives up under his opposite and lifts him off the ground. This happened NZ vs Canada, didn't get called. I'm still searching for the film.

But it also happens in general play. Jamming the head into an opponent, into a teammate, into the ground can all cause neck injuries.

Yes, coaching can make a difference. I coach a HS age and a U-15. We spend a lot of time on contact training but as I said before:

Shit happens.

 

[Robert Burns]

It's these neck injuries that us referees fear having in our game the most.

We have a fine line to walk along, when dangerous tackles are made, but no injury occurs, there are questions about if our penalty/card was appropriate, sometimes then an injury happens, through no dangerous play, but others then question why we didn't do anything to the instigator.

Injuries always make things look worse, we have been lucky so far in that there have been few few (only one I'm aware of) cases of serious neck injury from tip/spear tackles, we, as referees have been asked to take a hard line on them to reduce them being used, which in turn will reduce the chance of someone getting a serious injury.

There is no hard and fast rule, but it can be bloody difficult sometimes. Most refs will go with their instincts, if it looks wrong, it is, if it looks bad, it is.

I am glad to hear that the player is ok, that's always great news. I don't agree with most on this website regarding the referee helping with first aid. As most games in the country have a qualified referee, I believe that making it mandatory for the referee to be a qualified first aider is a good thing to help in making our game safer. I do not believe the referee should be used to fix minor bumps, scrapes & bruises. But in instances where it appears there is a serious injury, that 30 seconds (or longer) of first aid whilst the trained physios, doctors, or ambulance crew get to the player could be crucial.

I see no down fall in this, if the injury is serious enough to require the game to be stopped, it is serious enough, in most cases (there are bound to be exceptions to prove the rule) that quick first aid will be required.

 

[SimonSmith]

I've had one serious neck injury, early in my refereeing. Havant, and it was an ambulance on the pitch/silver blanket job.

The prospect is the one refereeing thing that I live on dread of.

I resolutely disagree with Robbie's idea - if only for the fact that I do not want that responsibility. Medical issues should not fall on my shoulders at all.