Is rugby too dangerous a sport for children to play? 

Former Ireland star Simon Zebo has said his own children have started to play rugby but he wishes they had got involved in a different sport.

Zebo said there is a “scary side” to rugby and he knows far too many people who were seriously injured during their playing careers.

"I would not push them towards playing rugby at all," he told the Irish Sun.

"What it does to your body, the head impacts, that’s the scary side of it.

“I’ve seen a lot of players have to retire through it, and that’s very dangerous - I don’t like it."

On Lunchtime Live, Pilates instructor Eva Berg said she sympathises with the former Munster star’s viewpoint and has decided not to let her children play rugby.

“I just felt it wasn’t worth the risks,” she said. 

“For 30-years now, I’ve worked as a pilates instructor and I would have dealt in the past with a lot of clients - usually men in middle age - [who] might have had spine trauma in the past. 

“They had ongoing issues well into middle age and these issues were as a result of injuries they had had as schoolboys when they were playing rugby in school.” 

Irish Rugby balls on sale in a shop window. Picture by: Alamy.com

Ms Berg said she has encountered slipped discs, disc prolapses and “all sorts” of neck injuries which her clients blamed on rugby. 

“Look at the trauma that can happen as a result to the spine and neck,” she said. 

“Also to the head; you got the huge subconcussive impact going on that leads to neurological disease in later life. 

“I just wasn’t prepared to go through that for the sake of the kudos [of playing] rugby… on the A team or whatever.” 

Instead, she signed her children up for sailing, tennis and fencing - sports which they still play “to this day”. 

“I don’t know anyone whose kids played rugby at school who are still doing it in their 30s,” Ms Berg said. 

Benefits as well as risks

Former Irish rugby player Shane Byrne acknowledged the risk of injury in rugby but said it only happens to a minority of players. 

“There’s tens of thousands of kids playing the sport and thousands of people have gone through their lives playing rugby,” he said. 

“It had no ill effects [on them].” 

He also highlighted the benefits of getting involved in sport - including “camaraderie, discipline and the advantages they get from exercises”. 

According to ESRI, 10% of children under the age of 10 play rugby.

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Main image: Simon Zebo. Picture by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile