RUGBY LEAGUE touch judge Warren Turley has revealed that the sport was “10 days away from not being in existence due to insurance”.
Turley, who took charge of Leigh Miners’ clash against Latchford under-18s at the weekend, took to social media to express his delight in how both sets of players and coaching staff adapted to the new tackle height laws that have come into being for 2024.
In December last year, the RFL lowered the legal limit for any contact at all levels of Community Rugby League and at Age Grade at professional clubs as well as Reserves from shoulder hit (ie below the neck) to arm pit height (ie below the shoulder). As such, any contact above the arm pit will now be punished.
That has seen some backlash from those associated with the community game, but Turley took to social media to explain that such changes are necessary, praising both Leigh Miners and Latchford for the way in which they took the new laws on board.
Turley posted: “Credit to both teams who really tried to adapt their techniques and behaviours and managed to do so really well in such a short period of time.
“We probably had 15/16 penalties in the game for above armpit contact, but it tended to be when the players were more fatigued at the end of sets (tackles 4/5) or when players were reaching out when someone was making a half break etc.
“Not many penalties out of that were for players in 1v1 contact, or the second man coming in too high.
“This was also replicated in the 25 mins of the game following mine (Leigh Miners Rangers v Clock Face under-16s in the National Cup – about five penalties in the first 25 minutes I saw).
“The players bought into it, the coaches certainly bought into it and the game didn’t suffer off the back of it.
“It’s going to take time and it’s not going to be perfect to start with…Oh and just remember the whole game was just 10 days away from not being in existence due to insurance, so the game I saw today was certainly better than not having one at all!
“Enjoy your rugby league, we do.”
It’s a strong statement from Turley, but it’s good to see that players and coaches at the community level are doing their best to adapt to the new rules – rules which were put in place to ensure rugby league continued as a sport.
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