It's a traditional war challenge from their native culture - all of the south sea island teams do similar things. Some have said that it gives them an unfair mental advantage over the opposition before the game (and there is some truth to that not so much in the intimidation value, since players should be able to ignore that, but in the way it prepares them physically and mentally 'for battle' as individuals). The Haka can itself be 'beaten' with a little thought, though, especially if they are playing away: [video=youtube;ayAxm6KA2rw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayAxm6KA2rw[/video] [video=youtube;6fYIUdVNFgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYIUdVNFgU[/video]
I dated a Kiwi who was obsessed with the All Blacks. Seen the haka many times. It is a bit, well, loud and I can see how it is supposed to be frightening, but I am not sure why it is allowed.
Any contact between players has a potential for injury, but for anyone to say this is more dangerous, than say, a hit to the knee or a blindsided hit in the back is kidding themselves. I assure you, as someone who's been of the recieving end of countless suplexs and various slams through years of competitive wrestling, a QB taking a blindsided shot in the back, which is perfectly legal, is 10 times more dangerous.
The fans, including their opponents, love it - it's all part of the theatre of the game, and it's been there pretty much since the start of international rugby. There'd be public outcry if it was banned.
It's the specific nature of the potential injury that makes this specific kind of thing so dangerous. A broken neck is something that happens very rarely in sport, and it's something that everyone obviously wants to avoid - it's obviously alot more serious than a broken leg or arm (those kind of things happen reasonably regularly - it goes with the territory of playing any full contact sport, especially at pro level). That kind of 'dropping on the head' thing risks exactly that, and it's why it's banned. In the rugby video I posted earlier, BOD says he knew he had to get his head out of the way, and he was right. He did do that, and was out of the game with a shoulder injury for 5 months. Had he not moved as he managed to do to take the force of the impact on his shoulder, it could have been a whole lot worse - if he'd broken his neck, at the very least it would almost certainly have been the end of his playing career. It could have been much more serious than that, obviously. In 1997 the then Wales rugby captain Gwyn Jones suffered a serious neck injury in a club game, at the age of 25: That wasn't from a tackle, but a freak accident from getting crushed in an awkward position underneath a ruck. I was watching the game on TV - after the ruck, he didn't move at all, was clearly unconscious, and it took a long time to get him moved from the pitch. You knew how serious it was, though, when you saw how slowly the ambulance drove him away from the stadium. It's the kind of injury I never want to witness again, and it's exactly why rugby has rules governing the tackle area, and dropping players n their heads - basically, if you lift an opponent off the ground above the horizontal (i.e. with his legs in the air) in a tackle, it's your responsibility to ensure he reaches the ground safely - you can't push him down or drop him, you have to place him down to make sure his neck isn't damaged (and remember, unlike am football, rugby players don't have padding and helmets). That Gwyn Jones injury game between Swansea and Cardiff was the most disturbing game I ever saw on TV - in the same game, a player on the other side suddently looked at the ref, and then jumped off into the crowd - his father was suffering a heart attack in the stand: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66685263/Rugby-Union-Disaster-For-Jones-Double-tragedy-mars-Swansea-victory%28Sport%29 Unbelievable game, for the wrong reasons.
How many times do I have to spell it out? IT'S NOT BANNED. The ref didn't know what he was doing, plain and simple. There are hundreds of suplexs at every level of football on YouTube and this is the one and only instance where I've seen a flag thrown. There's nothing in the NCAA rule book about style points during tackles, and as long as he's not grabbing the face mask, horse collaring the guy or leading with his helmet it's a legal tackle at every level of American football.
I'm not disputing that - I don't know the rules of american football, and never claimed to. I'm saying that anything similar would be banned in rugby, and in my opinion what he did (not what was in other examples, and I've explained what I see as the difference) should be banned in any sport, because it's dangerous, and risks giving a serious neck injury.
I took your "that's why it's banned" as a reference to football and not rugby, for that I apologize. Like I've said earlier though, this move is legal at the most novice levels of greco wrestling, and without lifts to the shoulders/neck there would be no Greco roman wrestling, which happens to be an Olympic event. I guess our opinions differ on the subject.
I took your "that's why it's banned" as a reference to football and not rugby, for that I apologize. Like I've said earlier though, this move is legal at the most novice levels of greco wrestling, and without lifts to the shoulders/neck there would be no Greco roman wrestling, which happens to be an Olympic event. I guess our opinions differ on the subject.
Anytime excessive force is used gratuitously, that foul can be called. It's based on the judgment of the officials. It looks excessive to me...literally lifting the runner off of the ground and slamming him to the ground, when a basic tackle would have sufficed. Hence the 15 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.
