Grassroots players don't want no-contact

A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME

- JEFF PROBYN

The restarted professional game is well under way but with a somewhat pointless end to last season and without any true sign of the real game restarting.

Why the RFU sanctioned full rugby (bar the spectators) for the Premiership but only touch rugby for the grassroots game may seem odd, but there is a reason.

Many could be thinking, surely if under current government rules it is ok for the professional clubs where players congregate every day to take part in contact training and playing, it should be safe for the grassroots clubs who only meet two or three times a week?

The argument that it is essential as a matter of player welfare for the professional player to take part in contact to prepare them for the rigours of the game must be even truer for grassroots players.

The professional players spend their days training in groups with close contact for games and continue with fitness training when in lockdown isolation. Whereas those from grassroots have to balance a work/life schedule and follow social distancing rules with limited close contact most days.

For many grassroots players the only time they train is at their club as part of a team in semi-opposed contact sessions between the club’s teams, which lockdown has effectively stopped.

The RFU have put out a paper explaining what it believes grassroots clubs can do under current government instructions, which amounts to a type of touch rugby.