Rugby and concussion: tantamount to child abuse?

Academics' headline-grabbing claim has been described as 'verging on insulting'

Children playing rugby
Scientists from the universities of Winchester, Nottingham Trent and Bournemouth said the game should be banned among under-18s
(Image credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

A report by academics that claims children's rugby could be a form of child abuse has sparked a flood of criticism.

"Two centuries after the birth of rugby on school playing fields", the experts say the game "should be banned among under-18s", said The Times.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.