Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good neighborhood friend has her boys in local rugby leagues. She’s been trying to convince me to get DS into it too.

I have zero background with this sport. And I have some doubts. I guess beyond the lack of helmets thing (I mean, CTE is real), doesn’t rugby just give off a, sort of toxic masculinity vide?

The lack of helmets actually makes rugby safer. Helmets contribute to CTE. In rugby they teach them how to tackle properly. No leading with the head/helmet to helmet contact, etc.

What a load of sh!t.

Rugby is terrible for your brain too. The helmet pads arguments are always so stupid and completely debased from basic physics. If you run, and then crash into something, guess what? Your brain is going to feel impulse forces due to huge and rapid changes in momentum no matter of you have pads or not. Then you're constant getting slammed into the ground head or no head hitting it first, it doesn't matter. You're still imparting violent collisions to the body that will damage the brain. Go watch YouTube videos of hard rugby tackles and try to sit there with a straight face while telling everyone it is A OK for a young brain to endure that. You're lying through your teeth. You also can simply look at all of the CTE in rugby players, which is just as horrible as those flound in ice hockey players or football players:

https://www.sciencealert.com/alarming-study-finds-risk-of-brain-disease-rises-every-year-you-play-rugby

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/05/sport/cte-rugby-early-onset-dementia-intl-spt/index.html

Any sport where collisions are a required aspect of the game is pretty much completely stupid to sign your kid up for these days with all of the brain safety science we now know. No amount of equipment or no equipment protects you from it.

Rugby is as stupid as American football. It's horrible for your brain and is a major risk for CTE. Especially for younger developing brains.

What do people expect when you're essentially a slab of meat crashing into other slabs of beef?

Rugby is a great game and has great players. I have many friends from when we lived in the uk and hk that have seen many social and physical benefits in their kids. It does have a cte risk and a recent study from England raised eyebrows when it equated youth rugby to child abuse.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/sport/children-rugby-child-abuse-study-spt-intl-scli-gbr/index.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/17511321.2023.2284923?needAccess=true

Read and make your own informed decision.

I don't know about kid's rugby, but I played on our universities men's rugby team for 3 years, until I completely tore my ACL while our team was playing against the US Naval Academy team. It was more chill than football, and some of our teammates went back and forth between lacrosse and rugby. And yes, there was a bro culture to it including some very raunchy songs sung at most parties.

I have no regrets playing, I mostly enjoyed it, but having witnessed so many injuries like my own, I probably wouldn't let my kids play it. Also, it wasn't uncommon for several players to ride together to/from away games (some of much could be a couple hours away)... and since matches were often followed by a party that led to a number of instances where my teammates were driving themselves and other players after drinking a lot of alcohol. Looking back now I am shocked no one got in an accident on my team, and that is the only thing that really crossed a dangerous line.

I realize OP is talking about youth rugby. But if their DS ends up wanting to play in HS or college, it can definitely expose them to injuries - which were common.

Anonymous wrote:Traumatic Brain Injuries followed by Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a specific form of early onset dementia.

Macho is not what you should be worrying about, OP. This isn't about "vibes". It's about very real medical problems your children could develop as adults from years of playing rugby as children.

Uh, you do know that most kid's rugby is touch, not tackle, don't you?

Rugby is great. As PP mentioned we always have a potluck for the other team after. It's very big on camaraderie/family. Everyone is included.

Part of the rugby culture is that you ‘host’ the other team. In HS, we always bring enough food for the opposing team. Some older clubs host a happy hour after the games.