High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change
Objectives Rugby Union has a relatively high risk of injury. Early evidence suggests a benefit of lowering tackle height to reduce head and neck injuries, although concerns persist among stakeholders regarding implementation challenges. This study aimed to understand whether referees can reach the s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2025-01-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/11/1/e002347.full |
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| _version_ | 1832592354623619072 |
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| author | Carly D McKay Ash Kolstad Stephen W West Ruth Leese Ricardo T Sant'Anna |
| author_facet | Carly D McKay Ash Kolstad Stephen W West Ruth Leese Ricardo T Sant'Anna |
| author_sort | Carly D McKay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Rugby Union has a relatively high risk of injury. Early evidence suggests a benefit of lowering tackle height to reduce head and neck injuries, although concerns persist among stakeholders regarding implementation challenges. This study aimed to understand whether referees can reach the same conclusion regarding tackle height in a controlled environment (ie, video) and whether priming influenced these decisions.Methods Forty-eight active referees completed a questionnaire based on high-tackle decision-making guidelines after watching tackles. Participants were randomly assigned one of two instructional videos containing a high or legal tackle to investigate the impact of priming on law interpretation.Results The percent agreement regarding tackle height was 78.1% between participants, 62.7% between participants and an experienced analyst, and 74.0% between participants and a gold-standard referee. Mean intra-rater reliability when determining whether a tackle was high was substantial (percent agreement: 91.2%). For high tackles, 83% of participants agreed on the danger level, 57% on the contact location and 71% on the presence of mitigating factors. No significant effects of priming were observed. Inter-rater agreement among participants and the gold-standard referee was moderate for all items except danger and height, which showed strong agreement.Conclusion These results suggest a need for improved referee training to support changes to the legal tackle height. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-665ed37d48364a41bb307b2d35e4933a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2055-7647 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-665ed37d48364a41bb307b2d35e4933a2025-01-21T09:55:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine2055-76472025-01-0111110.1136/bmjsem-2024-002347High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law changeCarly D McKay0Ash Kolstad1Stephen W West2Ruth Leese3Ricardo T Sant'Anna4UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport, University of Bath, Bath, UK2Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada1 Centre for Health, and Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport, University of Bath, Bath, UKDepartment for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UKDepartment of Sport & Physical Activity, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire, UKObjectives Rugby Union has a relatively high risk of injury. Early evidence suggests a benefit of lowering tackle height to reduce head and neck injuries, although concerns persist among stakeholders regarding implementation challenges. This study aimed to understand whether referees can reach the same conclusion regarding tackle height in a controlled environment (ie, video) and whether priming influenced these decisions.Methods Forty-eight active referees completed a questionnaire based on high-tackle decision-making guidelines after watching tackles. Participants were randomly assigned one of two instructional videos containing a high or legal tackle to investigate the impact of priming on law interpretation.Results The percent agreement regarding tackle height was 78.1% between participants, 62.7% between participants and an experienced analyst, and 74.0% between participants and a gold-standard referee. Mean intra-rater reliability when determining whether a tackle was high was substantial (percent agreement: 91.2%). For high tackles, 83% of participants agreed on the danger level, 57% on the contact location and 71% on the presence of mitigating factors. No significant effects of priming were observed. Inter-rater agreement among participants and the gold-standard referee was moderate for all items except danger and height, which showed strong agreement.Conclusion These results suggest a need for improved referee training to support changes to the legal tackle height.https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/11/1/e002347.full |
| spellingShingle | Carly D McKay Ash Kolstad Stephen W West Ruth Leese Ricardo T Sant'Anna High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine |
| title | High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| title_full | High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| title_fullStr | High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| title_full_unstemmed | High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| title_short | High tackle headache: implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| title_sort | high tackle headache implications of referee agreement for tackle height law change |
| url | https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/11/1/e002347.full |
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