A petition seeking to reverse the RFU's decision to lower the legal tackle height to the waist and below has surged to 25,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
The RFU announced that at all levels below the Premiership and Championship in the men's game, and the Premier 15s in the women's game, the tackle height would be lowered “to reduce head impact exposure and concussion risk in the tackle for both the ball carrier and tackler.”
But the ruling, which is set to be implemented on July 1st 2023, has been met with huge opposition, from players at all levels of the game.
And a petition started yesterday, shortly after the announcement made by the RFU, has already reached 25,000 signatures as it calls on England's governing body to reverse its decision.
Ed Barlett's statement on his petition reads: “Rugby Union, a game for all shapes and sizes, has never had that phrase more challenged than now.”
“I completely understand the need to make the game safer and where possible eliminate the head on head collisions, but no-one is forcing anyone to play rugby union.”
“Dropping the tackle height to below the waist will make the game a farcical spectacle to watch.”
From current and former Harlequins players Joe Marler and Gonzalo Tiesi (above), Gloucester back row Lewis Ludlow, who said concussions would “go through the roof in the community game” as a result of the change, to Jamal Ford Robinson, who simply shared a clip of the Hall & Oates song “Out of Touch” in response to the RFU, several professional players have waded in with negative opinions to the decision.
Criticism has also come from current and ex-Championship players with Ollie Steadman, former Championship player for Bedford and now playing in National One for Birmingham Moseley, citing the failed attempt to lower the tackle height in the 2018/19 Championship Cup which led to more concussions.
There has been notable support for it, coming from Australian legend David Campese and former Bath player and broadcaster Stuart Barnes, and several players from that era have cited the fact that low tackles were the absolute norm in the days they were playing.
There is also evidence in favour of the change, since the French grassroots game introduced similar rules head injuries dropped from 2.71 head injuries per 1,000 hours of matches to 2.24, and the changes had a number of positive effects on attacking rugby.
But there has also been criticism of the evidence used, with several noting the fact that the reduction in concussions would still be relatively small over the course of a season and that the extent to which it would change the game could alienate thousands of amateur rugby players, when numbers have already halved in the last eight years.
Whether the RFU will have the confidence to continue with their implementation of the change may largely depend on whether the negative reaction continues, or if it fades, in the coming days and weeks.
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