Introducing toddlers to rugby (West)

Wow, I can hardly imagine a parent nowadays who would consider putting a toddler into such a rough and tumble contact sport as Rugby.

Even in the UK, a bastion for the sport, collective thinking is quickly shifting to the dangers that it presents for pre-adolescent children, which are considerable. Exposing toddlers to such dangers in the name of sport is in my opinion (both as an educator and parent) extreme to say the very least.

Rugby, for children, has an injury rate 3 times greater than football (soccer). Fully 50 percent of those injuries reportedly occur during the tackle. Another grave concern I would have is that children who practice the sport do not wear the same kind of protective gear as would their counterparts involved in American football. The older and heavier the children become the risk of injury only increases.

I find it ironic, to say the least, that in a day and age where most concerned parents wouldn't even dream of transporting their most valuable possession in a car without a child restraint seat, or ride a bicycle without a helmet and other safety equipment, skateboard or rollerblade without helmets, elbow and knee protectors, etc., would expose their child to similar or worse injuries for the sake of Rugby and not give it a second thought.

Just my opinion, one that seems to be shared by many in the UK now too according to this article from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others … rugby.html

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Thanks for your post James, however I feel this is not really relevant to my question:
1) Rugbytots and similar programs are an introduction, not the regular game;
2) An introduction which can lead to the practice of touch rugby for instance, not necessarily regular rugby;
3) Kids riding bikes with helmets or kids beyond 4/5 years old with car seats are an exception, not the rule (I haven't seen any parent at my kid's primary school using a car seat);
4) This post is not about defining if rugby is suitable for toddlers or not.

Thanks for your understanding