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FOLLOWING A RECENT CALL TO BAN TACKLING IN SCHOOL RUGBY GAMES, ONE MAN WHO WAS PARALYSED DURING A SCHOOL RUGBY ACCIDENT HAS REVEALED HE BELIEVES IT SHOULD REMAIN A CONTACT SPORT. At the

highest levels of the game comes some of the hardest tackles and the biggest collisions. Rugby is a full contact sport by nature but now a team of doctors and health experts are calling for

a ban on tackling in the game at a school level. Experts are warning that for under 18s – the risks are potentially high and injuries can be serious and have said schools should move to

touch rugby and non-contact rugby. David Ross from Moira was just 18 when he was left paralysed after he broke his neck during a school rugby game. “I was on the ground after I’d made a

tackle or was involved in the ruck, and I was trying to get back up and as I was getting up, a second tackle took place just beside where we were and created a pile up,” he explained. “I got

trapped in an awkward position at the bottom which unfortunately resulted in the injury that I sustained. He added: “Rugby is a contact sport, to take the contact element out of the sport I

think really kills the essence of rugby and takes away from the sport.”