Coaches support landmark ruling
|Published
Rugby coaches “fully support” the landmark ruling in the Western Cape High Court that a schoolboy player was to be held responsible for injuries he caused to an opponent in dirty play.
Ryand Hattingh, now 25, was in matric in June 2005 at Labori High School in Paarl when he injured his neck in a match against Stellenbosch High. Its hooker, Alex Roux, was believed to have incited his team members to perform a manoeuvre coded “jack-knife”, where Roux’s head went into the wrong gap in the scrum and it collapsed on Hattingh’s neck.
Paarl Gynmasium rugby coach Deon Gerber agreed with the ruling. He said: “Malicious intentions and actions need to be punished. This ruling is good for rugby because coaches and players can now see that malicious behaviour is not part of the game.
“As a coach, you need to enforce discipline to ensure they play to the rules. Another problem is that kids are getting recruited by unions and schools where they are being given full scholarships and they (as well as their parents) are being paid.
“I know of cases where under-16 players are being paid between R5 000 and R12 000 a month, besides other benefits. This puts pressure on players … and many simply can’t handle it, which results in problems like the breaking of rules,” he said.
Primrose Rugby Football Club coach Saleigh Soeker said that, although rugby was a physical sport, the aim was to score tries, and not hurt players.
“When I played rugby many years ago, it was war and players were seriously injured on a weekly basis. However, today we have great rules which regulate the game and make it more professional, and if they are broken because of malicious intent, players must be punished,” he said.
Western Province Rugby Union chief executive Theuns Roodman said:
“We are not in the position to say if it was wrong or right. Like any sport, if you break rules it is a problem and there will be consequences. All I can say is that players should obey rules.” - Cape Times
chad.cupido@inl.co.za