Thoughts on Head Contact

[KieronC]

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in quite some time (2010!) but I do check for updates and thought that maybe I'd try and be more active!

I was hoping to get some thoughts on something regarding contact with the head. I might've missed something about this so I apologise if it has been discussed already.

Is it fair to say that there has been very little mention of ball carriers raising their arm in a tackle and making contact with the head of the defender? This isn't so much me asking if you think it's legal or illegal but rather if you think it is something that has been overlooked by the league?

I understand the perspective that the tackler has a duty of care but if a defender is in the process of making an acceptable tackle and gets an intentionally raised arm (or turned shoulder) in the head, isn't that seen as dangerous too?

Maybe it'll be a case of when more of the mouth guard data gets analysed they'll see other patterns of head contact (I'm still not 100% sure on how that data is used or processed).

I'm interested to hear your thoughts and to be educated if there's been more discussion about this than I realise!

[josie andrews]

Good question & welcome back

I’ve thought about that too but there is never any mention of the ball carrier hitting someone in the face or head from a raised ball carrying arm & it must be just as dangerous.

[WIGIAN]

I suspect stats say many more players are injured doing the tackling rather than being tackled connecting with elbows, hips, knees. If its about head contact It'll be interesting to see in we get any leading with the elbow red cards against the ball carrier.

[KieronC]

I'm having to figure out how posting works here again so if post something that is weirdly formatted, please bear with me!

Good question & welcome back

I’ve thought about that too but there is never any mention of the ball carrier hitting someone in the face or head from a raised ball carrying arm & it must be just as dangerous.

Thanks for the welcome, Josie!
Yeah, you'd think there's some risk in that too and maybe there are instances when it has been flagged. I don't hear much about it though.

I suspect stats say many more players are injured doing the tackling rather than being tackled connecting with elbows, hips, knees. If its about head contact It'll be interesting to see in we get any leading with the elbow red cards against the ball carrier.

Good point about contact with other parts of the body. I reckon you could split it up into a few categories. Like, I imagine there will be a few spikes in data from seemingly innocuous things but if they are specifically talking about direct contact with the head, I've yet to hear what the ball carrier's responsibility is.

Does anyone have any links or details on the metrics used for head knocks? If the mouth guard technology is relatively new, how does that correspond to the tests they'd carry out last season when someone goes off for a HIA at the instance of the physio or whoever made the decision?

[Mike]

Do we have the smart mouth guards, or is that just RU. I think even they are only deploying them to international games this year.

Ideally the mouth guards would be streaming live info to medics who can use them to spot impacts and have objective criteria to withdraw or monitor regardless of whether they were tackled, tackling or ran into the pose or whatever. I think we're a number of years from that situation though.

[Blackpool_Pie]

Do we have the smart mouth guards, or is that just RU. I think even they are only deploying them to international games this year.

Ideally the mouth guards would be streaming live info to medics who can use them to spot impacts and have objective criteria to withdraw or monitor regardless of whether they were tackled, tackling or ran into the pose or whatever. I think we're a number of years from that situation though.

They're causing chaos in union. A couple of cases where players have no idea why they're being sent for a hia

[Charriots Offiah]

I'm all for protecting players from deliberate foul play or reckless tackles but the current application of the rules is going to kill the game.

[Mike]

Do we have the smart mouth guards, or is that just RU. I think even they are only deploying them to international games this year.

Ideally the mouth guards would be streaming live info to medics who can use them to spot impacts and have objective criteria to withdraw or monitor regardless of whether they were tackled, tackling or ran into the pose or whatever. I think we're a number of years from that situation though.

They're causing chaos in union. A couple of cases where players have no idea why they're being sent for a hia

Bound to be some technical improvements in the coming years to resolve any glitches or false readings. The hardware's likely to improve and the software that interprets the signals is probably very early in its development. Now we're all on TV, make the mouth guard signal a warning light that has to be accompanied by TV evidence of a head impact and we should be on the right path IMO.

[Blackpool_Pie]

Do we have the smart mouth guards, or is that just RU. I think even they are only deploying them to international games this year.

Ideally the mouth guards would be streaming live info to medics who can use them to spot impacts and have objective criteria to withdraw or monitor regardless of whether they were tackled, tackling or ran into the pose or whatever. I think we're a number of years from that situation though.

They're causing chaos in union. A couple of cases where players have no idea why they're being sent for a hia

Bound to be some technical improvements in the coming years to resolve any glitches or false readings. The hardware's likely to improve and the software that interprets the signals is probably very early in its development. Now we're all on TV, make the mouth guard signal a warning light that has to be accompanied by TV evidence of a head impact and we should be on the right path IMO.

I completely understand this but surely they should be being used in trials in lower leagues rather than in big games as is being done at the moment. Losing key players for sections of the game for no reason isn't ideal and likely to cause backlash

[Mike]

They're causing chaos in union. A couple of cases where players have no idea why they're being sent for a hia

Bound to be some technical improvements in the coming years to resolve any glitches or false readings. The hardware's likely to improve and the software that interprets the signals is probably very early in its development. Now we're all on TV, make the mouth guard signal a warning light that has to be accompanied by TV evidence of a head impact and we should be on the right path IMO.

I completely understand this but surely they should be being used in trials in lower leagues rather than in big games as is being done at the moment. Losing key players for sections of the game for no reason isn't ideal and likely to cause backlash

Its likely because of a sense of urgency brought on by the financial implications of lawsuits and insurance issues. Also the people who provide tech solutions to problems usually fall into the "move fast and break things" mindset. Get it out there and fix it on the job. Ultimately things will improve and quickly if there is enough investment and the sports are serious about fixing this.