In what seems like another case of ludicrous Nanny State scaremongering nonsense, a group of "experts" has written to British government ministers to call for a ban on tackling in school rugby to lesson the dangers of children being injured.
But rather than a simple of case of 'Elf 'N Safety gone mad, could something more sinister be happening?
As is revealed here, these "experts" are a motley scrum of lefties, gender obsessives and gay campaigners with a worryingly insidious agenda.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this letter is more about political views than medical science and children's safety. Rugby is a sport often associated with public schools, grammar schools and the middle classes — although try telling that to the rugby players of Wales, where the sport is a national religion.
It's a sport associated, too, with old-fashioned male aggression — and salty jokes in the rugby club bar after too many pints of lager.
All this is anathema to the gender neutral, politically correct views of so many Left-wing lecturers on today's college campuses.
They're intent on the feminisation of sport despite the fact that competitive exercise is an extraordinarily effective way of diverting male testosterone away from violence and thugishness on the High Street.
What (rugby) balls! 'Experts' are demanding a ban on tackles in under-18s rugby. But as we reveal, they're a motley scrum of lefties, gender obsessives and gay campaigners with a worryingly insidious agenda
By Harry Mount for the Daily Mail
3 March 2016
Daily Mail
On the face of it, the open letter calling for a ban on tackling in school rugby smacked of authority and expertise.
Sent to Ministers, Chief Medical Officers and Children's Commissioners, it warned that the risks of injuries for those under 18 playing the sport are unacceptably high and the injuries are often serious.
The letter made headlines in every newspaper, and debate over its call for a tackling ban raged yesterday on broadcasting outlets across the country.
But scratch the surface of its signatories — a list of more than 70 professors, doctors and other academics — and their authority appears rather less impressive.
Under threat: Tackles fly in during a lively rugby game between Colston School and Pate Grammar School
True, there are specialists in sports injuries among them. But an awful lot of these 'experts' have no medical knowledge of sports injuries. Many specialise instead in gender issues and politics.
The list of signatories includes two sociologists whose academic subjects are sexuality and sport.
Another specialises in sport and race, still another studies homophobia, two concentrate on children's rights, and there's an expert in environmental pollution as well as a specialist in masculinity.
As for the letter's two main signatories, neither are experts in broken bones and spinal injuries. First, let us look at Allyson Pollock. Yes, she's a professor of public health research at Queen Mary University, London. But she specialises in attacking the Government's NHS reforms, particularly any suggestion of the private sector intervening in the hallowed NHS.
To be fair to Professor Pollock, her son was injured on the rugby field — a shattered cheekbone — which must be distressing for any parent. But does that really give her the authority to try to emasculate the game for children across the country?
Not according to Dr Ken Quarrie, Senior Scientist (Injury Prevention & Performance) for the New Zealand Rugby Union. Five years ago, when Professor Pollock called for 'high tackles and scrums to be banned in schools', he accused her of wilfully misrepresenting research about schoolboy injuries to prove her case.
In an internet blog criticising Pollock, he highlighted an extensive review of rugby injuries that found 'the risk of catastrophic injury was comparable with that experienced by most people in work-based situations and lower than that experienced by motorcyclists, pedestrians and car occupants'.
Now, let's take the other main signatory, Professor Eric Anderson of the University of Winchester. He is an American sociologist and sexologist, 'specialising in adolescent men's gender and sexualities'.
Until now, he's been most prominent for getting into a row with TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, the Chancellor of Winchester University, who wasn't happy with Professor Anderson's views on having sex with young men.
And you can see why. In 2011, Professor Anderson revealed at an Oxford University debate that he had slept with 'easily over a thousand people', and joked he was a sexual 'predator'. He said: 'I like sex with 16, 17, 18-year-old boys particularly, it's getting harder for me to get them, but I'm still finding them.
'I hope between the age of 43 and the time I die I can have sex with another thousand — that would be awesome, even if I have to buy them, of course, not a problem.'
What's the connection between this man's curious CV and his ability to judge the risks of rugby injuries? Nope — I don't see it, either.
Students of Kingwood School take on Sir Thomas Rich's School Rugby during a match
And so it goes on with many of the other signatories — a series of Left-wing academics.
There's Professor John Ashton, a lecturer in public health, and another opponent of the Government's NHS reforms. He's keen, too, to reduce stress for workers and on lowering the age of consent to 15, arguing that the current legal limit prevents sexually active younger teennagers from getting support with issues of disease and contraception.
Several of the signatories specialise in gender and sexuality issues in sport. Step forward, Dr Adi Adams, a sociologist at the University of Bath, and author of I Kiss Them Because I Love Them: The Emergence of Heterosexual Men Kissing in British Institutes Of Education.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this letter is more about political views than medical science and children's safety. Rugby is a sport often associated with public schools, grammar schools and the middle classes — although try telling that to the rugby players of Wales, where the sport is a national religion.
It's a sport associated, too, with old-fashioned male aggression — and salty jokes in the rugby club bar after too many pints of lager.
All this is anathema to the gender neutral, politically correct views of so many Left-wing lecturers on today's college campuses.
They're intent on the feminisation of sport despite the fact that competitive exercise is an extraordinarily effective way of diverting male testosterone away from violence and thugishness on the High Street.
Many young men from tricky backgrounds, who haven't had the advantage of completing a gender studies degree, are deeply grateful for the escape from criminal violence — and the great pleasure — that sport can bring.
Practically all sport — from tennis to golf — brings the risk of injury. That's what happens when you run about and throw things. But sport is also an integral, natural part of human life. By all means, choose not to play rugby — but how dare these academics with their social agendas try to stop others doing the thing that they love?
The PC Killjoys
Professor Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities at Winchester University. Among his publications are In The Game: Gay Athletes And The Cult Of Masculinity, and 21st Century Jocks: Sporting Men And Contemporary Heterosexuality.
According to his CV, his work 'shows a decline in cultural homohysteria leading to a softening of heterosexual masculinities. This permits heterosexual men to kiss, cuddle and love one another; and promotes inclusive attitudes toward openly gay athletes and the recognition of bisexuality.'
America's first openly gay high school sports coach, Anderson gave a speech at Oxford in 2011 entitled 'Why gay sex is best'.
Professor Allyson Pollock is Professor of Public Health Research and Policy at Queen Mary University of London. She has also spearheaded opposition to the part privatisation of the NHS, and appeared before Parliamentary inquiries, opposing Private Finance Initiatives — the funding of NHS infrastructure projects with private money.
She has argued that the health service is under such threat from privatisation that a new government Bill is needed to 'reinstate' the NHS.
Pollock is a regular contributor to the Left-wing Guardian news-paper, writing articles with headlines such as: 'NHS privatisation keeps on failing patients — despite a decade of warnings'.
Professor John Ashton is a lecturer in public health, former Regional Director of Public Health for the North West, and President of the Faculty of Public Health, which sets standards for specialists working in public health.
A former member of the Socialist Health Association, he has attacked the Government's NHS reforms; he has also argued for lowering the age of consent to 15.
His pronouncements on public health are sometimes blunt. In 2014, he called two supporters of e-cigarettes, respectively, a 'c***' and an 'onanist'. In one Tweet, he said: 'These abusive e-cig people remind me of the lads who used to play with themselves behind the bike sheds at school. They are even more pathetic than that. Need e-cigs to get aroused.'
Dr Adi Adams teaches sociology in the Social and Policy Sciences Department of the University of Bath. He specialises in gender, sexuality, youth and sport.
Among his publications are Josh Wears Pink Cleats — Inclusive Masculinity On The Soccer Field.
Other works include Aren't We All A Little Bisexual? and Exploring The Relationship Between Homosexuality And Sport Among The Team-mates Of A small, Midwestern Catholic College Soccer Team.
Dr Rachael Bullingham is a lecturer in Physical Education at the University of Worcester. She specialises in homophobia in sport.
Her doctorate examined the experiences of openly lesbian athletes in team sports. Among her publications are Openly Lesbian Team Sport Athletes During An Era Of Decreasing Homohysteria and Out In Sport: The Experiences Of Openly Gay And Lesbian Athletes In Competitive Sport.
Dr Jamie Cleland is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Loughborough University. He specialises in social deviance, racism, sexuality and homophobia, the media, communication and violence.
Among his publications are Football's Dark Side: Corruption, Homophobia, Violence And Racism In The Beautiful Game and Glasswing Butterflies: Gay Professional Football Players And Their Culture.
Dr Rory Magrath lectures in the faculty of Sport, Business and Enterprise at Southampton Solent University. A sociologist, he began his academic career with a degree in football studies.
He says: 'As someone whose research focuses on the relationship between football, masculinity and sexuality, I have witnessed a continued shift towards football as a more positive and inclusive environment for the LGBT community.'
Professor Priscilla Alderson teaches Childhood Studies and Children's Rights at University College London. She says she is 'working on ways to relate childhood studies and younger generations to the 'adult' world of global politics, economics and the ecology'.
She has published articles on green economics and young children's human rights.
Dr Jo Deakin is a lecturer in Criminal Justice and a Research Fellow at Manchester University. Her first degree was in sociology. She wrote for a bulletin of the anti-prison campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2011 about problems faced by women prisoners. She expressed concern about how prison sentences 'fracture and weaken' relationships with family and friends.
But rather than a simple of case of 'Elf 'N Safety gone mad, could something more sinister be happening?
As is revealed here, these "experts" are a motley scrum of lefties, gender obsessives and gay campaigners with a worryingly insidious agenda.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this letter is more about political views than medical science and children's safety. Rugby is a sport often associated with public schools, grammar schools and the middle classes — although try telling that to the rugby players of Wales, where the sport is a national religion.
It's a sport associated, too, with old-fashioned male aggression — and salty jokes in the rugby club bar after too many pints of lager.
All this is anathema to the gender neutral, politically correct views of so many Left-wing lecturers on today's college campuses.
They're intent on the feminisation of sport despite the fact that competitive exercise is an extraordinarily effective way of diverting male testosterone away from violence and thugishness on the High Street.
What (rugby) balls! 'Experts' are demanding a ban on tackles in under-18s rugby. But as we reveal, they're a motley scrum of lefties, gender obsessives and gay campaigners with a worryingly insidious agenda
By Harry Mount for the Daily Mail
3 March 2016
Daily Mail
On the face of it, the open letter calling for a ban on tackling in school rugby smacked of authority and expertise.
Sent to Ministers, Chief Medical Officers and Children's Commissioners, it warned that the risks of injuries for those under 18 playing the sport are unacceptably high and the injuries are often serious.
The letter made headlines in every newspaper, and debate over its call for a tackling ban raged yesterday on broadcasting outlets across the country.
But scratch the surface of its signatories — a list of more than 70 professors, doctors and other academics — and their authority appears rather less impressive.
Under threat: Tackles fly in during a lively rugby game between Colston School and Pate Grammar School
True, there are specialists in sports injuries among them. But an awful lot of these 'experts' have no medical knowledge of sports injuries. Many specialise instead in gender issues and politics.
The list of signatories includes two sociologists whose academic subjects are sexuality and sport.
Another specialises in sport and race, still another studies homophobia, two concentrate on children's rights, and there's an expert in environmental pollution as well as a specialist in masculinity.
As for the letter's two main signatories, neither are experts in broken bones and spinal injuries. First, let us look at Allyson Pollock. Yes, she's a professor of public health research at Queen Mary University, London. But she specialises in attacking the Government's NHS reforms, particularly any suggestion of the private sector intervening in the hallowed NHS.
To be fair to Professor Pollock, her son was injured on the rugby field — a shattered cheekbone — which must be distressing for any parent. But does that really give her the authority to try to emasculate the game for children across the country?
Not according to Dr Ken Quarrie, Senior Scientist (Injury Prevention & Performance) for the New Zealand Rugby Union. Five years ago, when Professor Pollock called for 'high tackles and scrums to be banned in schools', he accused her of wilfully misrepresenting research about schoolboy injuries to prove her case.
In an internet blog criticising Pollock, he highlighted an extensive review of rugby injuries that found 'the risk of catastrophic injury was comparable with that experienced by most people in work-based situations and lower than that experienced by motorcyclists, pedestrians and car occupants'.
Now, let's take the other main signatory, Professor Eric Anderson of the University of Winchester. He is an American sociologist and sexologist, 'specialising in adolescent men's gender and sexualities'.
Until now, he's been most prominent for getting into a row with TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, the Chancellor of Winchester University, who wasn't happy with Professor Anderson's views on having sex with young men.
And you can see why. In 2011, Professor Anderson revealed at an Oxford University debate that he had slept with 'easily over a thousand people', and joked he was a sexual 'predator'. He said: 'I like sex with 16, 17, 18-year-old boys particularly, it's getting harder for me to get them, but I'm still finding them.
'I hope between the age of 43 and the time I die I can have sex with another thousand — that would be awesome, even if I have to buy them, of course, not a problem.'
What's the connection between this man's curious CV and his ability to judge the risks of rugby injuries? Nope — I don't see it, either.
Students of Kingwood School take on Sir Thomas Rich's School Rugby during a match
And so it goes on with many of the other signatories — a series of Left-wing academics.
There's Professor John Ashton, a lecturer in public health, and another opponent of the Government's NHS reforms. He's keen, too, to reduce stress for workers and on lowering the age of consent to 15, arguing that the current legal limit prevents sexually active younger teennagers from getting support with issues of disease and contraception.
Several of the signatories specialise in gender and sexuality issues in sport. Step forward, Dr Adi Adams, a sociologist at the University of Bath, and author of I Kiss Them Because I Love Them: The Emergence of Heterosexual Men Kissing in British Institutes Of Education.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that this letter is more about political views than medical science and children's safety. Rugby is a sport often associated with public schools, grammar schools and the middle classes — although try telling that to the rugby players of Wales, where the sport is a national religion.
It's a sport associated, too, with old-fashioned male aggression — and salty jokes in the rugby club bar after too many pints of lager.
All this is anathema to the gender neutral, politically correct views of so many Left-wing lecturers on today's college campuses.
They're intent on the feminisation of sport despite the fact that competitive exercise is an extraordinarily effective way of diverting male testosterone away from violence and thugishness on the High Street.
Many young men from tricky backgrounds, who haven't had the advantage of completing a gender studies degree, are deeply grateful for the escape from criminal violence — and the great pleasure — that sport can bring.
Practically all sport — from tennis to golf — brings the risk of injury. That's what happens when you run about and throw things. But sport is also an integral, natural part of human life. By all means, choose not to play rugby — but how dare these academics with their social agendas try to stop others doing the thing that they love?
The PC Killjoys
Professor Eric Anderson is Professor of Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities at Winchester University. Among his publications are In The Game: Gay Athletes And The Cult Of Masculinity, and 21st Century Jocks: Sporting Men And Contemporary Heterosexuality.
According to his CV, his work 'shows a decline in cultural homohysteria leading to a softening of heterosexual masculinities. This permits heterosexual men to kiss, cuddle and love one another; and promotes inclusive attitudes toward openly gay athletes and the recognition of bisexuality.'
America's first openly gay high school sports coach, Anderson gave a speech at Oxford in 2011 entitled 'Why gay sex is best'.
Professor Allyson Pollock is Professor of Public Health Research and Policy at Queen Mary University of London. She has also spearheaded opposition to the part privatisation of the NHS, and appeared before Parliamentary inquiries, opposing Private Finance Initiatives — the funding of NHS infrastructure projects with private money.
She has argued that the health service is under such threat from privatisation that a new government Bill is needed to 'reinstate' the NHS.
Pollock is a regular contributor to the Left-wing Guardian news-paper, writing articles with headlines such as: 'NHS privatisation keeps on failing patients — despite a decade of warnings'.
Professor John Ashton is a lecturer in public health, former Regional Director of Public Health for the North West, and President of the Faculty of Public Health, which sets standards for specialists working in public health.
A former member of the Socialist Health Association, he has attacked the Government's NHS reforms; he has also argued for lowering the age of consent to 15.
His pronouncements on public health are sometimes blunt. In 2014, he called two supporters of e-cigarettes, respectively, a 'c***' and an 'onanist'. In one Tweet, he said: 'These abusive e-cig people remind me of the lads who used to play with themselves behind the bike sheds at school. They are even more pathetic than that. Need e-cigs to get aroused.'
Dr Adi Adams teaches sociology in the Social and Policy Sciences Department of the University of Bath. He specialises in gender, sexuality, youth and sport.
Among his publications are Josh Wears Pink Cleats — Inclusive Masculinity On The Soccer Field.
Other works include Aren't We All A Little Bisexual? and Exploring The Relationship Between Homosexuality And Sport Among The Team-mates Of A small, Midwestern Catholic College Soccer Team.
Dr Rachael Bullingham is a lecturer in Physical Education at the University of Worcester. She specialises in homophobia in sport.
Her doctorate examined the experiences of openly lesbian athletes in team sports. Among her publications are Openly Lesbian Team Sport Athletes During An Era Of Decreasing Homohysteria and Out In Sport: The Experiences Of Openly Gay And Lesbian Athletes In Competitive Sport.
Dr Jamie Cleland is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Loughborough University. He specialises in social deviance, racism, sexuality and homophobia, the media, communication and violence.
Among his publications are Football's Dark Side: Corruption, Homophobia, Violence And Racism In The Beautiful Game and Glasswing Butterflies: Gay Professional Football Players And Their Culture.
Dr Rory Magrath lectures in the faculty of Sport, Business and Enterprise at Southampton Solent University. A sociologist, he began his academic career with a degree in football studies.
He says: 'As someone whose research focuses on the relationship between football, masculinity and sexuality, I have witnessed a continued shift towards football as a more positive and inclusive environment for the LGBT community.'
Professor Priscilla Alderson teaches Childhood Studies and Children's Rights at University College London. She says she is 'working on ways to relate childhood studies and younger generations to the 'adult' world of global politics, economics and the ecology'.
She has published articles on green economics and young children's human rights.
Dr Jo Deakin is a lecturer in Criminal Justice and a Research Fellow at Manchester University. Her first degree was in sociology. She wrote for a bulletin of the anti-prison campaign group the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2011 about problems faced by women prisoners. She expressed concern about how prison sentences 'fracture and weaken' relationships with family and friends.
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