Times Have Changed, But At What Cost?

Our history and the past can be extremely important in making people aware as to how they reached the point they are at. It also helps to make people aware that what may appear the norm today was not always the case.

I recently visited my old school in the UK. A school that I left over 40 years ago. The approach today is still as impressive as it was when I first went there as a boy just entering his teenage years.

The front of the school is grand and imposing. In front of the main building is one of the most amazing places to play cricket, a pitch that has hosted first class fixtures. In the Winter rugby posts were erected on either side of the wicket and the first XV would take centre stage. In the spring term a hockey pitch would be situated on the far side of the wicket.

There was little choice in those days. In the Winter term it was rugby union for all. In the Spring, hockey or Cross Country, while in the Summer there was Cricket, Athletics, Tennis or Golf.

Football was not even talked about. I was ridiculed for having a team photo of my football team pinned to my desk. Those of us who ventured out with a round ball were chased away from using the hockey goals and the side of the cricket nets for our games of three-on-three with one goalkeeper, or “World Cup.”

So imagine my surprise when I returned to see on that hallowed turf in front of the main building a football pitch. It would simply never have happened in my day!

I was quick to advise today’s staff how in my day Football was the one sport that the pupils had to organise their own fixtures, dressing rooms and catering for visiting teams. It was the only sport in which the first XI did not wear the school colours, and there were no colours awarded for outstanding performances. Not only that, the sole pitch was located the furthest away from the school’s main buildings and on the playing field with the worst drainage.

During my time there was some change, as a few boys requested that the school be allowed to vote on whether they would rather play football or hockey during the Spring term. The vote resulted in an overwhelming request to play football. However, as many of the staff had been employed to teach and coach hockey there was a reluctance to make the switch. Only those who were really poor at hockey were given the option to play football instead. As a trade-off the pitch was moved to a far better location, but that only lasted two years until the two individuals who had pushed for the referendum had left the school.

Forty years on and things have changed beyond belief. Football is now a much greater part of the sporting landscape, the pitch at the front of the school being evidence. Incredibly, very few of the academic staff now teach sport at all. There is a whole seperate phalanx of staff who are employed purely to coach sport.

While it is great that there are now more opportunities for children to play the sport that they choose, it is worrying to hear that the influence has come from the parents.

What is more of a concern is that the sport that is being squeezed out, despite a long history and the school being hugely successful in recent times, as well as having ex international players assisting with the coaching, is rugby union. There have been many who have been warning that the sport has failed to adapt and make changes quickly enough, and this news is extremely worrying as it means that the supply-chain to club rugby is going to start to dwindle.

There can be no doubt that much was lost when the game finally turned professional. While players had always looked to stretch the laws to their advantage, now we see blatant breaking of the rules which is premeditated and goes unpunished.

Players have always been injured playing every sport. However the delays that an injured player brings to rugby today seems far greater than in the past when play went on around them. Frequently they could simply hobble over the touchline on the far side of the pitch rather than hold up play making their way back to the bench; sometimes done deliberately to break the opposition’s momentum.

Time has become a big issue in the game, especially at professional level with decisions referred to the video referee often taking an interminable time to reach a conclusion, as the officials all check and double check that they all agree. As experienced here in Perth at the Test match versus England the paying fans were frequently left in the dark as to what was going on, with their communication not being audible inside the stadium.

Since the game turned professional, defence has become a key factor, and that is why at the breakdown we witness players simply fanning out wide to restrict space and prevent a sniping attack off the back of the ruck or maul. Gone are the days when players had space to run. That is why the runs in the highlights reels of yesteryear of the likes of Phil Bennett, Barry John, David Duckham, David Campese, Philip Sella, to name a handful, are so special. Rugby could fix this very easily, by simply stating that if you are not involved in the ruck or maul you must be ten metres behind the ball. Only the scrum half allowed in that space.

Would this also have an impact on the number of injuries? Many believe that it would, as the game would be less a battle of attrition at the breakdown. There is no doubt that rugby has to find a way to protect its players. However some of the law changes and the referees interpretation of those changes have done the game a huge disservice. Now it is hard for those who know the regulations to fathom out why a decision was given to one or the other team, so what hope those new to the game?

These changes at school level should be a warning to the powers that be that unless they make the necessary changes and quickly the sport is going to be played only in a select group of schools, and its future survival will fall to the already overburdened club system. Are those in power already looking at this possible scenario and what needs to be put in place to help the clubs?

Having wished for football to have been given more recognition in my day, now I fear that it may be being given too much. For the skills and lessons learned from playing rugby and other sports may now be lost to the next generation. What is it they say, that wisdom comes with age? Some will say that this is progress, but surely when it comes to one’s schooldays there should be a balance as well as the opportunity to try different things? One sport should not be sacrificed for another.