Making shin-guards compulsory

[GoodOne]

K so we are just recommending, the original discussion was about making them complusory. Other than protecting the AFL from litany, what is the purpose of the AFL recommending something?

 

[Redford]

K so we are just recommending, the original discussion was about making them complusory.  Other than protecting the AFL from litany, what is the purpose of the AFL recommending something?

Gee, I dunno. Probably an attempt to prevent unecessary injury at minimum inconvenience ? Maybe something like that....

Or maybe an attempt to lessen the swathe of negative press that has occurred the last few years with respect to serious injuries.

And all doing so without impeding upon the precious rights of the players to wear what they want, of course.

 

[GoodOne]

K so we are just recommending, the original discussion was about making them complusory.  Other than protecting the AFL from litany, what is the purpose of the AFL recommending something?

Gee, I dunno. Probably an attempt to prevent unecessary injury at minimum inconvenience ? Maybe something like that....

Or maybe an attempt to lessen the swathe of negative press that has occurred the last few years with respect to serious injuries.

And all doing so without impeding upon the precious rights of the players to wear what they want, of course.

Seriously Redford, I think there is enough professionalism in AFL today, for clubs to know what to recommend to their players in terms of protection. Surely you dont need the AFL to recommend it. What AFL needs to concentrate on, in my opinion of course, is why from a game-playing point of view there appears to be more serious injuries than ever before. Some have suggested the speed of the game, and the lack of breaks between points and bounces is contributory. I agree with this, and maybe thats where the AFLs responsibility lies in deciphering from a game rules point of view how to help in this area.

 

[Redford]

K so we are just recommending, the original discussion was about making them complusory.  Other than protecting the AFL from litany, what is the purpose of the AFL recommending something?

Gee, I dunno. Probably an attempt to prevent unecessary injury at minimum inconvenience ? Maybe something like that....

Or maybe an attempt to lessen the swathe of negative press that has occurred the last few years with respect to serious injuries.

And all doing so without impeding upon the precious rights of the players to wear what they want, of course.

Seriously Redford, I think there is enough professionalism in AFL today, for clubs to know what to recommend to their players in terms of protection.  Surely you dont need the AFL to recommend it.  What AFL needs to concentrate on, in my opinion of course, is why from a game-playing point of view there appears to be more serious injuries than ever before.  Some have suggested the speed of the game, and the lack of breaks between points and bounces is contributory.  I agree with this, and maybe thats where the AFLs responsibility lies in deciphering from a game rules point of view how to help in this area.

Hmm...so there's enough professionalism in the AFL today is there ? I think in comparison with many other sports you'd have a lot of people argue that. Didn't Coughlan and Hayes go back out onto the ground with serious knee injuries recently ? The AFL still has a looooooong way to go in terms of being as professional as some other major sports in some other countries.

So, you'd rather change the rules or the way the game is played than invoke a simple recommendation ? Again, I think you'd find a lot of people would argue against that. Everyone's had enough of rule changes. The games been bastardised enough.

Again, I'll ask you, what is the harm in the AFL or a club or any junior footy coach, encouraging or recommending inoccuous shin guards if it means lessening potential injury.

What is the actual harm ? You are yet to answer this.

 

[GoodOne]

Hmm...so there's enough professionalism in the AFL today is there ? I think in comparison with many other sports you'd have a lot of people argue that.  Didn't Coughlan and Hayes go back out onto the ground with serious knee injuries recently ? The AFL still has a looooooong way to go in terms of being as professional as some other major sports in some other countries. 

So, you'd rather change the rules or the way the game is played than invoke a simple recommendation ? Again, I think you'd find a lot of people would argue against that. Everyone's had enough of rule changes. The games been bastardised enough.

Again, I'll ask you, what is the harm in the AFL or a club or any junior footy coach, encouraging or recommending inoccuous shin guards if it means lessening potential injury.

What is the actual harm ? You are yet to answer this.   

On that basis Redford, we should don the full armour.  You can guarantee that will lesson injury.  Not driving will certainly prevent you from having a car accident.  Question really is how far do you want to take it.  Nothing wrong at all with encouraging or recommending something.  As I understand shin guards are already used by some players.

Yes I do think there is alot of professionalism in Aussie Rules, not just at AFL but at all sorts of levels.  That does not mean you cannot learn better principles from other codes.  Whether others agree or not is another topic.

I also think the rule changes have contributed to the increased number of iinjuries, as well as gameplans etc.  I am not a great fan of recent changes, and my point wasn't to encourage rule changes, or that there is black or white in methods of reducing injuries.

I think fundamentally we agree, it is important to have recommendations at all levels as how to reduce injury.  Who does the recommending doesnt really matter, whether it be at club level or at AFL administration level, but I just think clubs have enough expertise to make their own recommendations.  For me I think the line is drawn between recommending and enforcing. 

PS I know quite a bit about knee injuries and going back on with them, been there myself.  Its not always an easy diagnosis without exploratory surgery, especially in the heat of the moment, but again thats another topic all together.

 

[Redford]

Nothing wrong at all with encouraging or recommending something.  As I understand shin guards are already used by some players.

Thank you.