by Ruckedtobits » September 13th, 2018, 10:43 pm
John O'Sullivan's piece in the Thursday 13th Sept edition of the IT on the same topic gives a more balanced viewpoint. The Leinster Senior (AIL) Clubs and their 35+ Executive Committee, who represent all rugby sections & opinions of the game in Leinster, have twice overwhelmingly questioned the wisdom of the expansion of the number of Professional players now eligible to play against totally amateur teams in Divs 1A and 1B.
It is truly ironic that in the week when current and former Pro players and pundits alike are talking of the "honesty" of Dippy Ryan's revelations of how professional players can sometimes treat, or even ignore, their own safety, that the IRFU chiefs, notably David Nucifora, are trying to convince the amateur, but hugely competent, administrators of Club Rugby in Leinster to forget their concerns about the Health & Safety of their amateur players and allow them to play against teams comprising of perhaps 10 players who are paid to play rugby professionally and train full-time to do so.
Yes, it could indeed be as many as 10 professionals on a few teams within Divs 1A & 1B. The regulation change would allow SIX Contracted Players PLUS any Academy or Development Contracted players already registered to that Club. Having trawled the Provincial Rosters, we count at least 5 Clubs with 6 Contracted players and four of these have at least four Academy or Development contracted players also.
This position could well be compounded because with the demise of the B&I Cup, players outside their Provincial Senior Squad will, quite literally, have no other rugby to play and no other stage upon which to impress their Provincial Coaches.
So, step up the Club stooges who will now face a hard-core of experienced professional players who train full-time, have already logged more S&C hours and collision experience than their amateur opponents will ever accumulate. How can this not be considered a substantial increase in Player Risk
A fair contest? Hardly. A sensible contest? Definitely not, without some sort of evidence that the "risk assessment" of player's Health & Safety has been carried out on something more convincing than the back of an envelope. That is, if any such assessment has been carried out at all.
One might have expected that the Ben Robinson case forewarned the IRFU to the inherent risks to players' safety in our game. To find that they are, once again, allowing amateur players to be exposed to needless additional risk, is almost beyond belief.