Eagle Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 there a various rumours on the web but this is from the Crusaders Forum:- Sunday night's match between Celtic Crusaders and Wakefield Wildcats has been postponed. The RFL will be making a formal statement later this evening. Until that statement is released we would request that no one posts any kind of speculation or information regarding the reason for the postponement. The reasons for this will become clear later. We thank you for your co-operation and support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Apparantly it was because a Crusaders player sustained a serious injury in the academy match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted March 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Wakefield player Leon Walker (21) collapsed and died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila_P Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 How heartbreaking for his family and the Wakefield supporters My heart goes out to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Such a tragedy for his family which will blight the rest of their lives, I can only imagine what they are going through today. It seems the lad suffered a broken neck leading to a convulsion which killed him. Perhaps there is a need to reconsider a change in which the modern game is played. There's an ever increasing demand for players to become bigger, heavier and stronger than ever before to cope with the Australian way of playing the game which is over-reliant on brute force, big hits and winning the *collision* being the order of the day. Maybe we should bring back old time skills which we all grew up on. It's relatively easy to add muscle to the human frame but you can't add anything to that frame. Bones, sinews and ligaments remain the same. There's more long term injuries at clubs than ever I can recall in the past leading to reconstructions of knees shoulders and goodness knows what else. If you look at player's profiles you'd be amazed just how heavy they are. These statistics have been removed from the Wire web-site but I've been on the web-sites of other clubs and was astounded just how big and heavy the modern player is. It seems a minimum of 15 stones is required to play todays game. Had I young sons there's no way I'd let them play Rugby League the way it's going. I'm just suprised that yesterday's tragedy was the first fatality but I can't see it being the last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Oddly enough I was only saying the other week how the players today seem more athletic and rely on speed and agility rather than body mass as was the case years back. Then again I?m certainly no expert on the subject so stand to be corrected. As for steering youngsters away from any sport that involves risk, well that?s a personal decision but not one I could agree with. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 I've just checked the St Helens web site and the stats for the players are: Wellens 15 stones 13 pounds Gardner 15 stones 7 pounds Gidley 15 stones 7 pounds Meli 16 stones 8 pounds Pryce 16 stones 4 pounds Even tiny Sean Long weighs in at 14 stones 0 pounds These are giants of men compared with the backs of yesteryear. These are just backs, I've not bothered to check on the forwards who are even bigger of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 If you want "giants", you need to look at an RU pack! Years ago, RL forwards used to be relatively small and fat, with a low centre of gravity, which helped them travel in mud; converserly, the Ozzies, who play on dry grass have always tended to have an athletic build; perhaps that's why they all finish up playing over here?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Being a tall forward in RU gave players an advantage in the line-out. Consequently you got 7 foot beanpoles with little hand / eye co-ordination and very clumsy. Nowadays being able to *lift* players in the line out doesn't matter so much, indeed being small could have an advantage in the fact you could chuck a little guy twenty feet in the air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Errm, I was thinking more of the 7ft, 18stone RU players, without an ounce of fat on them; who only drink after the game, rather than every night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
safeway56 Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Front row RU forwards are usually little barrels of lard...Most of them are clinically obese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Front row forwards need a lower centre of gravity for the scrum, otherwise they'd be consigned to a bad back for life - don't think there were any "barrels of lard" in the 6 nations though?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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