What professional sport combines towering six-foot-something beasts with respect and discipline? Rugby, a sport which although not very popular in the states, is growing towards the popularity it holds in other countries: England, Australia and New Zeland. A sport that arose in English private schools in the mid 1800’s, that has in large part stuck to it roots. In many parts of the world you can see a majority of teams formed through or around private schools.
In a recent op-ed that discusses traditions in rugby, a controversial issue was brought up about the inclusiveness that rugby has in some parts of the country; intentional or not. On one hand some argue that opposing weight classes onto the sport at a young age, where size difference can be more drastic, could help more kids stick with the sport. In the words of “Josh Williams,” one of this view’s main proponents, “offering open and weight-limited divisions [will allow] players that are smaller have the opportunity to learn the game without being bowled over by larger players.” According to this view, kids that don’t have the same push to play rugby as those in private schools, where the sport is tied to the school's culture, might be more likely to stick with the sport. On the other hand, some argue that weight classes would provide more kids with only a fraction of the values that traditional rugby offers. In sum, the issue is whether weight classes would have a positive impact on rugby community by maintaining more kids in the sport at an early age.
My own view is that those who propose making rugby a more widespread, accessible sport through weight classes would not necessarily reap the benefits from the changes. Though I concede that as a teenager who was below average in weight, I might have purposefully missed some tackles, something I am not proud to admit. I still learned to manage the physical side of rugby and the tackles that I did not coward out of ended up teaching me to toughen up. I did have friends and family to support and push me though the times that I did not want to be playing rugby, in part due to my smaller size, some might argue that not everyone has this support system, to which I would reply that looking back, I would have rather committed to another sport that I enjoyed more than play rugby if it wasn't teaching me to toughen up. The issue is important because even though no one would argue that making rugby a more widespread sport is positive for the sport, it isn’t if it is at the expense of core rugby values.