Rugby league’s tackle-height trial begins at Bradford to mixed reactions

B radford’s Odsal Stadium has had its fair share of significant moments in rugby league history but these days it is hardly the first place you would think of to describe the word groundbreaking. This vast bowl can house 25,000 but in this instance the terraces are scattered with no more than a few dozen people, many of them parents watching their children play in an academy match between Bradford and Leeds on a sun-kissed Thursday evening.

However, they are present for a genuine moment of history. Both rugby codes have disclosed their intent to lower the legal tackle height in the years ahead; some feel it is a reactive move to the growing number of players taking legal action against the sport they played, others feel it is simply a progressive step to protecting the players better. But whatever the reason, this is league’s first step into a new era of contact sport, with a six-week trial across four rounds of academy fixtures where only tackles below the armpit are legal, lowered from below the shoulder.

It sounds a marginal change. We are talking a few inches. But the mood in the stands where the scientists behind this trial are housed along with senior members of the Rugby Football League can be summed up in one word: tense. That mood is hardly helped when the first tackle of the game produces a penalty for a high tackle, resulting in groans from those in attendance. That quickly becomes the theme of the evening.

The lead on this trial is Prof Ben Jones from Leeds Beckett University. “As a definitive trial we’ll be looking at things around contact to the head, head acceleration and the in-game metrics, in addition to the published literature that exists around concussion mechanisms and tackle injuries that will be