‘A form of child abuse’ – Heated debate on whether rugby should be banned in schools

Ugo-Monye-debate-with-Eric-Anderson

There was a fascinating and heated debate on talkSPORT today between ex-England wing Ugo Monye and Eric Anderson, a professor at The University of Winchester.

Anderson, a Professor of Sport, Health and Social Sciences at the University, firmly believes that the sport of rugby should be banned at school level for safety reasons.

Heated discussion

He was joined in studio by former Harlequins, England and British and Irish Lions finisher Monye for a highly charged discussion alongside presenter Jim White.

Armed with studies and statistics, Anderson put his case forward to ban the sport in schools until the age of 18 but that was contested by Monye, who believes youngsters need to practice technique before they reach adult life. Anderson’s counter to that was that the additional years of impact ultimately do more damage to the player’s brain.

But it was Anderson’s use of the term ‘child abuse’ that has dominated the headlines and the professor stood by the claim when asked to justify it by White on the show.

“We’re going to define that according to existing British law,” he said as he put forward his argument. “The 1989 and 2004 Children Act calls for the protection and safety of children. Within school systems the Education Act 2002 says children shall not be intentionally injured or endangered. The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child says children need to be protected from injury even if the parents disagree.”

He added: “All of these acts clearly state that a child should not be intentionally injured.”

talkSPORT regular Simon Jordan was also involved in the debate, joining Monye in pushing back on Anderson’s criticism of Rugby Football Union CEO Bill Sweeney for a quote in a 2020 article in the Guardian where he said “our evidence shows that rugby is no more dangerous than other sports”. Anderson slammed Sweeney, calling it “a lie”.

The debate then moved on with Monye critical of Anderson using the term “child abuse” to leverage his point of view, to which the professor hit back with a passionate retort.

“I could put you in touch with so many mothers who have lost children to permanent diseases, people who are suffering from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). CTE is not found in distance runners, it’s only found in impact sport athletes so do not stand here and tell me that CTE is a result of anything other than impact sports,” he stated.

Later in the debate, Monye assured listeners that rugby’s decision makers are keeping “safety paramount”, highlighting a moment in a Six Nations game over the weekend when Scotland hooker George Turner was removed from the field due to his smart mouth guard detecting the amount of G-force that went through his head in contact.

“We’re doing more and more and more,” the former British & Irish Lions tourist added.

“Next month we’re meeting up as a group of people, so that will be tournament owners, Six Nations, Rugby Championship, Premiership Rugby, URC and everyone else. Head coaches, international coaches from around the world, referees, International Rugby Players Association, all those bodies congregate and come together with this in mind.

‘Shaping our game’

“It’s all about shaping our game. What does it want to be? What does it want to look like and how can we then create whether it is administering the laws or changing the laws to protect the players even more so.

“I don’t know if there’s another sport in the world that has that level of buy-in to sit live together multiple times every single year to try and protect our players from themselves and from others.”