Why wouldnât you let them go horse riding? From a danger perspective? We always had ponies at home when we were young youâd be far more likely to get hurt playing gaa or soccer than horse riding.
I wouldnât like the social circle around the whole pony club shite but I know a good few lads with teenagers who are involved and they would sing itâs praises.
Plenty people will panic at the thought of their kids playing rugby especially people who have never been involved in the game themselves. Havenât seen it causing any drop off in underage numbers at my own club or anecdotally at other clubs either as yet.
I played pretty much everything up to age 21 and rugby for another 13 years after that. I never thought it was any more dangerous than anything else. Iv said it multiple times here over past while so not gonna repeat it but they are chipping away at the rules all the time to make it safer and will be a different game again in a few years.
There is very little violence in lower level rugby these days. And even less in underage stuff
If I was over a team I think Iâd do my best to engineer a row in an early season league or challenge game. By far the best way create a bond within a group (provided half the cunts donât run off and hide).
And Ballysteen v Oola in the minor semi final this year. Youâll always have incidents , especially when certain clubs are involved, but in general itâs not half as bad as it used to be.
A lad I work with has 3 teenage sons. Protestant privately educated family for generations. He is a lovely guy - get on great with him for the most part.
Anyhow he and his sonâs sports are rugby and horse riding. Last summer one son had a bad accident horse riding hence why I mentioned that. I hadnât even thought about it until I met this guy. You are right though, bad injuries can happen in most sports. They just seem more drastic to me in some over others.
I donât think any of his sons have had bad injuries playing rugby. He did mention his 14 year old has become completely obsessed with what food he is eating as the kid has aspirations for some rugby scholarship in the US and he needs to bulk up. What he described to me sounded like no fun and an unhealthy obsession with protein based foods. The scarey thing is that his Dad seemed proud of him. He is 14 ffs
Ah yeah the potential is there to get a life changer alright but rare enough thank God. A fella in Charleville ran into his own keeper a few years back playing hurling and the misfortune wasnât able to walk for a long time and I donât know how much improved he is now even. Stuart mangan in the rugby etc just shit luck
