Rugby union should ban contested scrums

Editor—I write with reference to Bourke's personal view.¹ There is no doubt that paraplegia is absolutely devastating. However, let's get things in proportion—based on Bourke's numbers, the risk of contracting a spinal injury is tiny. Bourke states he attends 25 home matches per season and has done so for 30 years; that makes 750 matches. I assume there are roughly the same number of away matches, making 1500 games in 30 years. A typical game may expect a scrummage every five minutes or so, say eight per half or 16 per match. That's 24 000. And in those, two consenting adults—fully aware of the risk—have suffered lifelong injury: a rate of 0.000083 for Nottingham Rugby Football Club. Still devastating, I agree.

But on the basis of this, is Bourke really suggesting we should stop a fantastic sport enjoyed by so many? If that's the case, horse riding needs to be banned completely immediately, and cycling should only occur on designated, off-road facilities when wearing Kevlar coveralls. If we really want to do something helpful let's look carefully at the road; there are more unnecessary deaths and severe injuries here in the United Kingdom than anywhere else.

I'm not saying we can ignore rugby injuries; the English Rugby Football Union has been mindful of these risks for a long time and the International Rugby Board referees' manual has clear guidance on minimising injury. We need to keep the balance of risks and benefits in proportion; scrummaging is an integral part of the union game and should not be lost as technical ability here may be one of the sporting skills that decides between great teams. Also, players have a choice, if they don't want to scrummage then they can play rugby league, where skills are just as important but strong in different aspects of the game.