Compulsory collisions and corporate interests in school rugby: challenging distortions in the framing of childhood injury

Abstract

This article examines how ‘framing’ is used to resist a proposal to remove rugby tackling from UK schools. It focuses on rugby tackling for UK school children, which is often a compulsory part of many schools’ curricula. Specifically, we explore the importance of framing in how the problem is described in various academic publications, how ideas about risk are articulated and how advocates themselves are represented. We show how the corporate interests of rugby governing bodies can become entangled with distortions about injury prevention. These distortions (or framing practices) include omitting arguments, conflating arguments, changing the argument, misrepresenting advocacy positions and skewing advocate identities. Next, the article demonstrates how a combination of recent advocacy, political interventions, research and cultural shifts appears to be changing perceptions about the risks associated with rugby tackling for children in school settings. In conclusion, we argue that while framing can be a useful strategy for policy advocates, there is value in paying attention to how framing is used by different stakeholder groups.

Concussion in sport – What do we know, and what’s next?

“…The associated problem here, is that such intellectual 'honesty', could, in the hands of bad faith actors, undermine some of the important but tentative conclusions we are able to make with our research. In this regard, the epistemological doubt that is central to the scientific method has, in part, enabled sports' governing bodies and those with various vested interests to do exactly that: cast doubt over the concussion debate (for important discussions around this point please see Malcolm, 2021;Piggin et al, 2022). Secondly, while it is possible to speak about any academic research in rather cold and stilted ways, it was quite clear that the speakers and attendees were all personally and emotionally invested in the topic.…”