Pupils
A pensive rolling maul after coffee in the common room Thoughts from a Master in charge
So it’s Thursday afternoon. The sun is high in the Autumn sky and as I stare out of my office window, I see hundreds of tieclad ants scurrying from doorway to doorway and across the hallowed playing fields trying to elude the wrath of the head groundsman, perched like a starving osprey upon his tractor. Thursday afternoon … and therefore sports practice. With it being the Autumn, the majority of the insects in their distinctive blazers scoot past the squash courts, the pool and the AstroTurf and head for the changing rooms. For the lovers of the oval ball the time has come. Each week across the country, thousands of players don their boots and gum shields to embrace the unique brand of muscular Christianity that is Rugby. The RFU are working tirelessly to attract more people into the game in a number of roles, and those numbers, from toddlers to the women’s and men’s game are increasing. Sunday morning clubs are overrun with tiny beardless gnomes in colourful kits that are too big but keep them warm as they get muddy before devouring a hot dog ahead of Sunday roast. The RFU are rolling out a hugely successful schools’ programme which is clearly having an impact. There are better coaching courses, better refereeing courses and, with the world wide web, access to coaching principles and ideas has never been so easy. The touch and 7s formats of the game are gaining popularity with extra tournaments being staged by the week. We know that in all its formats rugby is a beautiful game, with something for everyone, whether that be the high speed professional animal we see on our screens, or the school 16C team looking as if they have just returned home from The Somme. We know that, unlike certain other sports, rugby, if taught
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properly, enjoys a code, a code of respect, self-discipline, teamwork and integrity, that fosters the right attitudes in young people for life. It offers mental and physical challenges that can lead to the development of resilience as well as the opportunity to be physically active and stave off those tell-tale cases of ‘Nintendo wrists’ that can be so prevalent in the young today. We are also realistic that, of course, a contact sport brings a risk of injury. Injuries in the professional game are making headlines once again, and the tackling debate will continue. As schools, it is our clear duty to examine the measures we can take to avoid or minimise injuries, by providing better coaching and physical preparation, as well as by making sure that the best possible medical provision is available pitch-side and thereafter for any injuries that may happen. As in all aspects of school life, pupil welfare is the number one priority. However, as the blazer-clad ants have now all but vanished from view, I find myself wondering what constitutes the second priority in the minds of those who run Rugby in their school. If you examine some of the current practices in schools, the answer is, perhaps, not entirely straightforward. Surely one of the most important features of school life has to be the F word – FUN. Isn’t it about time that, as schools, we genuinely reflect on whether our great game is fun for all our players? What takes away the fun? It’s not the weather, it’s not the long bus journeys (which, after all, develop the camaraderie) and, bizarrely, on the whole, it’s not the injuries from which many boys bounce back into competition. It’s not even the losing, it’s the one-sided contests, the total spankings, the humiliations on the scoreboard that some boys are needlessly subjected to. There is nothing wrong with losing. It is one of