“Belly Tackles” Debate Rumbles On

Over the last few years, concerns over the highest permissible tackle have caused a stir in the media, not least because some parties wanted it lowered – and, in fact, the RFU finally made the decision to change the rule back in January. The RFU’s intentions were good, citing a need to reduce the incidence of head injuries, but fans’ have had a mixed reaction to the new tackle height. 

“Belly Tackles”

As of the beginning of February, the Welsh Rugby Union had also waded into the debate, closely followed by Rugby Australia on March 13. In the former case, orthopaedic surgeon John Fairclough warned the WRU not to make the same “bungled”, “embarrassing”, and “potentially damaging” mistake as the RFU, which failed to find common ground with fans before announcing the new tackle height. 

The rule change would lower the maximum tackle to below the breastbone or sternum, resulting in a game based on “belly tackles”. The decision comes after several sources found a correlation between rugby and concussion, with the British Medical Journal claiming that a player is almost guaranteed to suffer the injury once every 25 matches. Worse, the frequency of concussions increased during the four-year study. 

In late 2022, former rugby league player James Graham revealed that his brain had suffered damage after 100 concussions. The prop played for St. Helens between 2003–11 and briefly again in 2020, winning the 2020 Super League Grand Final in his final appearance in Merseyside. The club went into that competition at favourites with the bookmakers. They’re now the favourites for the 2023 Super League Grand Final in rugby league betting at 6/4. However, Wigan are expected to provide tough competition as they are priced at 3/1.

In an effort to raise awareness of concussion, Graham has created a podcast dedicated to the condition – Head Noise. In union, Alix Popham has previously stressed that players with adverse brain scans should be forced to retire.

1991 World Cup

The World Rugby Law Book states that the laws of the game are made specifically with a mind towards protecting players and enhancing the quality of each match. Inevitably, then, there have been other rule changes in the history of the sport – most notably, after the 1991 World Cup. The adjustments made included an increase in the distance between the two lines of players during line outs, from 0.5m to a full metre. 

At the time, an effort was made to increase the speed of the game, something that the new belly tackles are alleged to have done as well. For instance, an experimental change would force a scrum if the ball became unplayable during a maul or ruck, while the value of a try was increased to 5 points to reduce the importance of penalties. There were almost twenty different rule changes in the wake of the 1991 World Cup. 

Returning to the new belly tackle rule, some commenters have expressed concern that a defining aspect of rugby – player contact – could become a thing of the past. While this might seem a little overdramatic, there is an ongoing effort to remove potentially dangerous actions from most sports. A good example from recent times is heading in football, which was found to have changed “blood patterns” in the brains of a study group of Norwegian players.

The RFU’s belly tackles will force players to bend at the middle, absorbing some of the impact. Whether this will have as drastic an effect on the game as some analysts seem to think remains to be seen.