University of Alabama Club Men’s Rugby
UA Club Rugby heads to California
By: Emma Thomson
Tuscaloosa, Al- The undefeated University of Alabama Club Rugby team is heading to Los Angeles to compete in a 7s tournament at the end of the month. Currently, coming off of a 7’s tournament victory hosted at home in Tuscaloosa, the team is looking forward to taking their talents to the West Coast.
Team President, Harry Dulgarian, is extremely impressed with how the season is going so far, an states, “The team is developing in ways that we haven’t before”. Currently the team is 4-0 and looking to keep the winning streak going in California.
The USA 7s Collegiate Invitational is taking place at Orange County Great Park on Friday February 28th and at the Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday February 29th. Over 300 teams will be competing and more than 40 games will be played on each day. According to Business Ware, they are expecting teams from all of the United States as well as the world.
Players to look out for are Nick Brune, Caleb Strum, Matt Pikowski, and Thomas Platt. They are expected to make a big impact this season.
Caleb Strumb and Matt Pikowski are First Team All- SCRC (Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference) Honors and this is their last season playing for the Crimson Tide.
“Harry Dulgarian, Team Captain and scrum half, is one of the best in all D1AA” says Nick Brune, “He has been an amazing leader so far and I look forward to the season under his leading. He’s one of the best Scrum half’s I’ve ever played with so bring our talents to LA is a huge opportunity for us.”
Nick Brune says that the practice environment has been extremely competitive. “After a disappointing season, we are challenging ourselves the best we can. We know what ups and down feel like so we are coming back hungry and ready to play”.
This is the first time the team has ever traveled to this tournament and Caleb Strum states that, “this tournament is a really big deal and the biggest stage our team has even been on”.
With an exciting trip coming up and being unaware of the opponent, due to the unannounced schedule, the team is training hard with their head down focusing on their goal.
The only contact sport with no padding
By: Emma Thomson
Are Pads Necessary?
For almost all contact sports, pads are required. Soccer, hockey, football and lacrosse, you name it. But for arguably the most aggressive and physical sport, no pads or protective equipment is required. Even in sports that are not contact, some protective equipment is still worn, for example in baseball batters wear a helmet and a guard for their shin and elbow. In rugby, players can choose to wear mouth guards and cups but there isn’t any rule specifically saying they must wear something for protection. With the help of FirstAid4Sports, I learned that one in four Rugby players will get hurt throughout the season. This is a big statistic because of the physicality of the sport itself. The most common injuries are muscle strains and sprains.
Why would they need pads?
For those who don’t know much about Rugby and what happens in the game. In my opinion, it is similar to football, with a little mixture of soccer but way more physical than both of them combined. Players are lifted into the air, they can be tackled, hit, kicked, elbowed, really anything. Even if they did wear padding, the sport would still be extremely physical. About 1,200 Rugby players get head injuries each year, according to Brain Injury Law Center. An interesting survey that was taken among Rugby players was that 60% of Rugby players believe that scrum caps prevent severe head injuries but 37% believe that they are effective. It’s an interesting take because although a good portion of players think they’re helpful yet you don’t see a lot wearing them. With that, it was also proven that Scrum caps don’t do too much neurologically, but they do give off a look like it is safer. Paulie Malito, an outside center for the UA Rugby team, talks about his point of view. “Apart from having a mouth piece, there isn’t really any required gear to wear in games. I feel that because there is no protective equipment required people are more cautious and care about proper form opposed to barreling into people. I have had a concussion from rugby but it isn’t very common because of people being smart about contact situations. It also isn’t looked down upon to wear protective gear such as a padded shirt and people usually wear it as a mental thing because having some sort of padding can bring you confidence going into contact.”
Why not?
Although gear is not necessarily illegal, it is highly frowned upon according to springbooks.rugby. But according to Cole Bahan, UA Men’s Rugby player,
“There isn’t much protect gear. The only things I have seen besides braces are scrum caps and padded shoulders. I don’t use any of them as I don’t think they do very much to help. A scrum cap may help some players depending on position from getting cauliflower ear. There’s less injury’s one rugby as appose to football because there are no pads. In my opinion, you don’t make stupid hits because you have a helmet on that you think will protect you but doesn’t always. You are more cautious of your hits and do them proper. I’d say the most common injury is muscle strains or bruises.”
UA Rugby player, Nick Brune, getting tackled in a game.
My opinion
As a former athlete who had to give up playing the sport that I love due to head injuries, this sport particular scares me because of the extreme impact to the head and the lack of protection it has to the brain/skull. These athletes get hit pretty similarly to football players at that’s a lot for their head to handle. Not only that but going down to the neck as well with whiplash and the effects that it can have to a player looking forward. In my experience, I got it in the head with a ball that resulted in neurological problems for the rest of my life. I was hit in the temple by a ball that was shot by one of my teammates. With the speed that it was hit, the direction I was facing, the way the ball hit me and where, it was the perfect storm for damage that put me out of the game. When players are constantly getting hit going at full speed with no protection at all, and constantly changing directions, things like my injury could happen more often. According to Complete Concussion Management, during practice and in games, Rugby is the number one sport for Concussions. I don’t think there is a solution for this because it’s just the nature of the game. But perhaps more steps can be done prior to playing and during so that if there is any sight of a concussion, actions can be taken to help the athlete for recovery as well their future health. As far as other pads and protection goes for Rugby, shin guards can be worn and an undershirt with padding could be helpful but anymore than that could change the game and that is something that should be avoided. Because of the fast pace and nature of the game itself, it would be difficult to come up with protection that wouldn’t be bulky and affect the game speed.
This is typically all Rugby Players wear for protective gear
Conclusion
In conclusion, Rugby players don’t mind the fact that their sport doesn’t have an required padding at all. It is hard to come up with a solution for players because of the speed of the game and the nature of it. There have been research done but changing something that has been the same for a long time is hard to do. Although, there is really no solid way to prevent brain injuries, I think it would be helpful to do some testing for the players, like ImPact testing, to monitor progress and the extent of brain injuries. Top tier Sports Medicine does a great job of explaining what it is and why it’s helpful for not only doctors and sports trainers but for the athletes as well. To sum it all up, I think Liam Keller, UA Center on the Rugby Team, “I guess my take would be that the integrity of the game at this point is more important than changing it for safety purposes. People that play rugby are well aware of the injury risks before electing to play the sport. Adding unnecessary equipment and rule changes to try and lessen the chances of injury would change the game significantly and we’d no longer be playing the same game we fell in love with.”
About me, Emma Thomson
Hi, my name is Emma Thomson and I am a student at the University of Alabama. Currently I am studying sports media with a minor in computer science and I am loving it! I was born and raised in Chicago, IL with two amazing parents and two older brothers that are my best friends. I’ve grown up around sports, always being the one girl playing football with the guys, so for me it only made sense to pursue something that I know so much about!
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