The challenges of using research to make community rugby league safer

Abstract

Rugby League is an ‘invasion’ sport involving physical contact that carries with it a risk of injury. Participant safety using the best available injury prevention methods is a priority for all the games’ administrators with an emphasis on duty of care for all involved in the game. Administrators are also acutely aware of the challenges involved in managing the public perception and media coverage of safety and injury-related aspects of the sport particularly when looking to recruit and retain junior participants. In recent years the League has conducted research into several areas including injury surveillance, safety policy and practice audits, weight and age-based participation for juniors, and burn out for elite juniors (16–18 years) who participate in school and junior pathway programs. There has also been pressure on the sport to investigate concussion following recent media reports. Some of the challenges facing Rugby League when accessing and using available injury prevention and safety research evidence include the transferring of research findings from: 1) the elite level to the community level of the sport (what is true and appropriate for one is not necessarily true and appropriate for the other) and 2) other sports to rugby league (e.g. head injury research from the US). Rugby League, like all sporting organisations operates in a political context and has historically amended rules or adopted programs based not on research evidence but more by weight of numbers and opinion of certain sectors of the game. One big challenge facing sport, particularly at community level is the working relationship between community clubs and academics. Volunteers at club level are by nature ‘doers’ and they can often struggle with the ethical and scientific rigor required when participating in research. The Rugby League has recently established a Rugby League Research Board with representation from academic institutions such as Sydney University, University of NSW, and University of Technology, Sydney. The League has identified projects internally that require research and researchers interested in ensuring that their projects are relevant to the needs of the sport should consider contacting the League prior to developing research proposals to ensure research outcomes will lead to improvements in the sport. The introduction of the new ARL Commission in February 2012 provides new opportunities for academic-sport research partnerships because the Commissioners have directed all departments, especially Game Development and Football operations “to submit programs that are well researched and have benefit for the Game with supporting evidence”.