Why do people play Rugby?

Crippiling injuries and deaths? Sounds like Rugby is more dangerous that certain drugs...

Clubs stunned as try-saving tackle takes a life

24.06.2002
By PATRICK GOWER
Tino Amato was racing for the tryline when hit by a tackle that took his life.

He was playing on the right wing for his Central Hawkes Bay Rugby Club in their premier-level local clash with neighbouring Otane on Saturday afternoon.

The high-speed tackle from the Otane fullback was a try-saver - it forced Mr Amato, who had been heading for the corner, out over the sideline.

Mr Amato had beaten a couple of players and was hit at a right-angle by the fullback, who was coming across for what spectators say was a "full-on collision".

He lay there without moving. Then he started to have a fit.

The local ambulance service and a doctor tried to resuscitate the father of one before a rescue helicopter flew him to Hawkes Bay Hospital in Hastings.

Mr Amato, a 34-year-old butcher at the Takapau freezing works, was dead on arrival.

An autopsy found that he died of internal injuries suffered in the tackle, not of any medical condition. Waipukurau police are investigating and there will be an inquest.

The tackle happened just before half-time.

Central Hawkes Bay president Peter Fleming said the game was then shifted to the back paddock of the club's grounds in Waipukurau.

Otane went on to win 10-8. Both sides kicked a penalty and scored a try each, Otane converting their try to win.

"The guts had fallen out of both teams, especially the Central players," said Mr Fleming.

"They knew how critically ill Tino was, and every time they turned around they could see him being worked on."

Mr Fleming said the club would not be citing the tackler. There was no penalty at the time.

"Everyone who saw the tackle saw something different. I don't want to comment on the tackle. I know the boy who did it must be feeling as horrible as he could possibly feel."

It is understood that the tackler has talked about quitting rugby for good.

Mr Amato, who was part-Maori and part-Samoan, had played rugby in the area for the past decade. He played sevens for Otane at the start of the season, and had friends and family who lived there.

Mr Fleming said the two clubs were 15 minutes' drive apart, and many of the men worked together at the freezing works.

"Tino was as much a part of their team as he was ours."

Mr Fleming said Mr Amato's widow, Vanessa, the mother of their teenage son, had said she did not want any action taken against the tackler.

"Her attitude is that it is a hard team sport and Tino played it to the full.

"As far as the club is concerned, we hope that this can build bridges between the clubs rather than break them."

A broken leg to the club's first-choice winger meant that Mr Amato was asked to come back and play premier rugby this year, having turned out for the second-grade side last season.

"Tino was a real club man. He was 34 and still playing on the wing," Mr Fleming said.

Otane supporters said the victory was hollow. Post-match celebrations were replaced by prayers.

Otane coach Mike Ataera said club members were still in shock at the loss of their friend. "You just never think that someone would have an accident and die playing rugby against your team."

ACC figures show there have been crippling injuries to 17 rugby players in the past three years, as well as the deaths of 48-year-old Ponsonby player Pita Fuafiva last year and 25-year-old Joe Fifita in Christchurch the year before - both spine related.

For the same reason we cross the road at night, go fishing, drive cars etc, etc.

You can not wrap yourself in cotton wool all of your life.

Yep, what bad seed said....
People die and get hurt in all sorts of accidents everyday, its tragic but what are you gunna do? I doubt most people who died during activities of their past-times would not partake if they got a second chance.

Holy...snapping...duckshit.

This has really sobered me up. I know its a dangerous sport, but this is just terrible. How awful.

I feel sick about this.

As well as that, rugby playing when you are young is almost compulsary if you want to be accepted particually in smaller towns. Utterly stupid but true

It took me a few seasons of being trampled into the mud and generally bashed around before I saw sense

But if I take due care in crossing the road and fishing etc I won't get killed ...but in Rugby, I could get killed just be being tackled by someone or havemy spine damaged in a scrum through no fault of my own?

I guess I might be a future "soccer mum" after all.

I used to go out with a guy who's brother was a quadraplegic from playing League. I can't remember exactly what happened but I think it might have been something similar.

Why take drugs, the reasoning is the same, because you enjoy it. Everything in life carries risks, some you can manage, some you can't. By trying to eliminate all risks you lead a boring life. This only made the news because it is so unusual. What about the 3 or 4 people who died in road crashes this weekend?

justahalf: exactly my point

cause its the best game in the world cause u get to smash ppl in tackles. my days of when i played for counties in school boy grades where great. made so many mates and such a good time, i did give the game away basically cause i was a little to small, growing up in thee south Auckland area playing against guys that are now ab's was pretty hard out even back then.

its a wicked team sport and its much more exicting then boring soccer because everybody is invovled.

The Maestro what ur talking in about in small towns is a load shit. living down here in Arrowtown they cant even field one rugby team but they cant get enough ice time for the over load of ice hockey teams.

rugby is also a big hit in the country places because u dont have to have a staduim or a court to play on u just need a grass paddock.

My old man is 52 and he has been playing since he was 5 he's never had any life threaten injurys from playing the sport.

if u cant handel the game you know ur self you should give it away .....

and on another note it is nuthing like taking drugs

because you urself are in control of where you are on the field , if you know the game when u get tackled or hit the ground every young rugby player knows that u cover ur head and tuck ur knees in to ur chest or roll away.

death or broken necks in rugby are freak accidents.

so dont even try to relate drugs to rugby.

So what your saying, Forest, is that rugby is nothing like drugs because people only get hurt when they do something wrong or there's a freak accident?
Well that's completely different to drugs! Sheesh, what was everyone thinking?

well pfunk i think there is a higher chance of a fuck up in taking pills than playing rugby

The same reason why people play Football harvey, such as yourself. Because of the enjoyment.

If you remove people making mistakes and freak accidents like you want to, then I doubt there's a higher chance of a fuck-up on a pill than on the rugby field......

Stats dont back that up Forest

well... dpends on how you define "fuck ups"

"its a wicked team sport and its much more exicting then boring soccer because everybody is invovled"

What a load of shit! You can watch a Rugby game and 10 minutes in the winger might touch the ball.

How many times has someone died from just taking a pill? It seems more people die playing rugby to me (and they probably have the same rate of participation).

Stats from hillary commission, 137,100 males actively participate in rugby union, a bigger percentage of children play as well but the actual figure was not available, in any case if you added women as well we are talking at least 300,000 people.

Thank fuck we do not have that many active pill participants in this country, nothing would ever get done on the weekend they would all be to busy hugging each other listening to castles in the sky and on tuesdays they would all be running around killing each other.

Same participation rate worldwide? NZ is the only country it seems where Rugby is played by any significant portion of the population.

Do you not like rugby harvey?

there was another freak accident death with rugby a few years back wasn't there ?

Some guy trips up during practice - lands with his neck on the ball and ends up snapping his air pipe?

I think its a fucken dumb sport - not for the injuries but the concept of the sport itself.

I don't play too many sports at all but I still enjoy watching tennis, soccer & boxing (only when big name boxers are involved)

but rugby is just a fucken pain to watch much less play.....

I dont dislike Rugby but think its stupid that our "National Game" happens to be one that globally speaking no-on gives a shit about.

Australia? No, try League,football(soccer) and Aussie Rules
South Africa? Uh uh, its football for them by miles

So these two are have been our main foes over time and they are not even really interested.

But the main reason I prefer other sports is the fact that you can make a name for yourself in rugby with fuck all skill.

Whos the most high profile rugby player in the world, its Lomu right? and whats he known for? lumbering down the field like a big juggernaut swatting smaller ppl out the way, wow how skillful is that

ha ha ok that all reads a bit anti-rugby, not my intention but I'm just trying to rationalise my point of view

I watch Rugby, I follow whats going on. But if I have something more interesting to do I don't really worry about missing the All Blacks or anything.

I used to play rugby, a very love-hate relationship... I can be very competitive, and I was an aggressive player that took great pleasure in establishing pyschological dominance on my marker... I loved playing in a well deisciplined competion winning team.

BUT I totally loath rugby culture and hate getting hurt...

life is dangerous, why do people drive formula one cars at 300km an hour? the trill, the rush, the money? people take risks, it's a way of life

Exactly. So why are some recreational drugs illegal then?

Forest - what a load of crap. Soccer involves players much more than rugby does. In terms of risk, rugby has far more chance of causing serious injury than drugs, I know 3 people in wheelchairs from rugby accidents in a town of only 2000 people. Deaths from both are so low its hard to make any comment on it. In terms of limiting risks, again it is easier to do with drugs than in rugby. Problems caused by drugs are almost always to do with people doing silly things.

This rugby v drugs thing is all silly anyway. People enjoying themselves are at much more risk than those sitting at home watching TV. The risks of both are low and people should do what they enjoy doing. People enjoy sport and drugs for much the same reasons and I hate the way people rank forms of entertainment as superior to other forms. Personally I'd rather experience all of them (within reason) before making judgements.

harvey, because the majority of us think they should be illegal.

Ah! The tyranny of the majority... Why should the majority tell me what I can and can't take? Surely the state has not right to interfere with my sovereignty of my own body? Shouldn't The rightness or wrongness of any action be judged in terms of its consequences? If I choose to play rugby, I accept the consequences of that decision may be injury. If I choose to take a drug entirely for non-therapeutic reasons (i.e. pleasure) then I accept that I may harm myself. Now, it seems to me that the act of taking a recreational drug is in fact less damaging in its social implications, because in rugby I could inadvertantly seriously injure someone else.

I don't take drugs, but if people want to use them I couldn't give a fuck as long as they don't affect me or my family. They shouldn't be illegal, but there should be an age limit, the same as with alcohol.

Dunno what that's got to do with rugby tho.

I was just trying to make a point about the relative risks of various recreational pursuits.

i take it no one else thought it was a bit fucked up that the team kept on playing after the accident?

"The guts had fallen out of both teams, especially the Central players," said Mr Fleming.

"They knew how critically ill Tino was, and every time they turned around they could see him being worked on."

if my friend had just been fuckin 'munched', i wouldn't be playing a fuckin rugby game, let alone against the cunt that just did it. i'd be in the ambulance or driving behind it on the way to the hospital.
Priorities people!

hmmmmm

Thats actually a really good point booms

I guess that critically ill quote was non-factual, must have been surely?

I thought that about the game continuing as well. Usually they stop it. Having said that, maybe its because they had no idea he was going to die. Describing the poor guy who did the tackle like that is idiotic though. He was doing nothing more than happens in any game of rugby and must be absolutely gutted by what happened.

"He was doing nothing more than happens in any game of rugby"
i disagree with ya there, justahalf. i played rugby for a year and never gave a guy fatal internal injuries. besides, as the acc figures indicate at the bottom of the articles, most injuries were spine related, whilst his seem to relate to his internal organ.
the victim was half-samoan half-maori, worked at a physically demanding job (the freezing works) and had previously played sevens rugby, so i guess i can safely presume that he wasnt fragile. My guess is the tackler got too worked up and hit too hard, which is easy to do in a rugby game. one should be playing hard, but fair. Even if he is gutted, he should be held accountable if his actions were excessive, which only he can acuurately be the judge of, i guess

Its all speculation though as to whether the tackle was overvigourous or not.

Exactly harvey. Its ridiculous to assume he died due to an overly vigorous tackle, serious injuries can come in quite innoculous ways. Even if he did tackle a bit hard your reaction towards the guy is still stupid.

Forest, I disagree with your point:

"because you urself are in control of where you are on the field "

High testosterone, aggression and rugby are intrinsically linked. An aggressive state clouds your descision making process and judgement as badly as any drug. We've all seen fights break out in games of rugby, players who act is this way threaten their career, reputations and income - yet they still do. Does this sound like the actions of someone who is "in control" of themselves?

sorry justahalf, i forgot we should all hold hands, sing songs and then the bad things would all go away....
fatal injuries can come in quite innoculous ways but it is far more likely in this case that it was the result of a vigorous tackle.

Because its fun. Have you tried it? No? Not your cup of tea? Well soccer and cricket arent mine either.

Its all about choices I don't like people trying to tell me what I can or can't do so if you wanna play rugby, climb a mountain, do drugs whatever your thing is well thats your choice as long as your aware of the dangers, and thats the problem whatever it is people aren't educated enough about what could happen. But I agree can't wrap yourself in cotton wool otherwise you'd never do anything!
I know damn well though I wouldn't be incouraging anyone to play rugby ( or do drugs or climb a mountain for that matter), personally I think its a bloody sh-i-t sport but hey thats just my opinion.
I saw a guy die a few years back in a league game he was 21.... ( could have been any contact sport I guess??)

0.4 deaths in rugby per year. There's 20 deaths per year in swimming but rugby cops the flak. For fucks sake, there's 2 deaths per year in tramping!

The short shorts area good thing though.

there is a better chance of dying from
recreational fly fishing than there is from having
a cookie on a friday...

I enjoyed playing rugby, but cant play n e more
cos of injury.....
I liked the game, but not the lifestyle that goes
with it

What I hate about rugby and the culture is the sheer amount of spleen venting it causes from usually docile, librel minded free thinkers like most people I've ever met in the dance scene. I mean, it is just a game for fucks sake!

Sure, some people (the boofheads) 'live the game' a little keenly. Id the coversation between two boofheads ('did you see the game? Howlett was orrsome!!!') any different to the babbling of e-tards?; 'did you try those Red Hondas, Green Euros were orrsome!'

I hate boofheads...my simple plan is don't associate with them. I do however like to watch rugby with my mates, drink beer and scream at the box. That said, I've seen my 120kg, 6'5", built-like-a-brick-shithouse flatmate get tackled by a fragile, 65kg afro-headed mofo and end up with trashed ACL, recontruction and 6 months off work in a kick-about on the fields with the boys.

That's why I go to dance parties, and instead guard the chlli-bin when the lads have a kick-about

the coroners report,

Rugby death not caused by tackle

13.09.2002 10.00 am

A coroner has ruled a tackle which led to the death of Waipukurau rugby player Tino Amato 12 weeks ago was neither high nor illegal.

The finding was made by coroner Stuart Smith, of Dannevirke, at an inquest in Waipukurau, central Hawke's Bay, yesterday into the death of the Central club wing on June 22.

He concluded the death was not the result of the tackle, but was accidentally caused by the way in which he landed on the ground.

The death followed a tackle by Otane fullback and Hawke's Bay representative Afa Sauia, about 30-35 minutes into a Maddison Trophy senior first division club match at Waipukurau's rugby headquarters, Central Park.

Initially thought to have been winded, Mr Amato collapsed at the sideline, underwent mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and was flown to Hawke's Bay Hospital in Hastings where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.

A post-mortem established the 33-year-old father-of-one, who had intended playing no more than lower grade senior rugby this year until he was asked to fill in for an injured player, died of asphyxiation after crushing his larynx.

Nine people who witnessed the tackle gave evidence yesterday, including Mr Sauia, whose statement was read at his request by police inquest officer Sergeant Denis Tatere.

The others included Otane coach Mike Ataera, referee Karl Gibson and coach Martin Beveridge.

All told how they saw the two players converging as Mr Sauia raced across the field to tackle Mr Amato who was racing down the right wing towards the Otane goal-line.

They hit each other as Mr Amato changed direction, either to step inside the tackler or as he was looking for his support players, and the force of the shoulder-to-chest tackle lifted Mr Amato off the ground and over the touchline.

Mr Sauia said he lost his footing as he moved in for the tackle and hit Mr Amato chest-high. Mr Sauia said he did not fall in the tackle and headed back to his position, not realising Mr Amato was in trouble until he saw an ambulance arrive.

Mr Beveridge, a referee for about 40 years, who was assessing the performance of the young referee, was the closest of any of the witnesses, estimating he was about five metres away, and said it was not a head-high tackle.

He said his only concern was whether the tackle had been made with the arms or with the shoulder, but he recalled discussing it at the moment with another referee standing alongside and both thought it was a fair tackle "straight away".

Mr Smith said he relied on the evidence of those who were closest. Nobody could recall if Mr Amato was still carrying the ball when he fell to the ground, and it was inappropriate to speculate whether it had been forced up into his throat to cause the injury.

LMAO...

If you support Rugby then you support Terrorism

Stop trolling rival.

Now where is booms to admit he got it wrong.

Ok Sorry.. It's a nervous reaction thing I do.. Just type and click post and then regret it..

Not sure what this is called but it's a growing problem on the Internet im sure...

A REAL mans sport?
Sometimes I wonder if its the way that some men release all their angst and hot air?

Dam lot of iunjuries aint there!

I dont particularly think there is much skill involved in rugby....I love watching games of Badminton or Golf