Debate: Simplify Rugby or Preserve Complexity

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Show notes

This week's show kicks off in London, where Ross recently attended World Rugby's Annual Shape of the Game meeting. he shares some insider insights on topics including law change in the sport, what fans want, and the tensions rugby bosses are facing to grow the game. Staying on rugby, we discuss head injury management, after a few stories popped up in the world of rugby. In the first, a player was allowed to continue playing by the team doctor, but the referee stepped in to have the player removed with a concussion. In the second, a player admitted to 'cheating' the Head Injury Assessment screen back in 2017 to keep playing with a concussion. We discuss whether Rugby's policies to manage head injuries are working?

Shifting gears, we return to the snow of Milan Cortina, as Gareth noticed some interesting discussion about cross-country skiing, and whether 50km was too long because of the challenges it creates for athletes who run out of fuel. We talk about "hitting the wall", and the truth about how our bodies use carbohydrates versus fat during endurance exercise.

Then we talk doping. First, the UCI have asked its Testing Agency to catch a big name doper, with a feeling that the absence of positive tests isn't necessarily indicative of a clean sport, and their desire to catch a higher level rider apparently reflecting that realization. Staying on doping, Tara Moore is suing the WTA for $20 million after a series of bans, appeals and eventual bans for doping that she believes was inadvertently caused by meat contamination.

Our final doping conversation comes from Athletics, where a Member asks whether the records should be reset when they are suspected of being the result of doping. This would particularly affect the Women's record books. We discuss that, offering some insights into how they might justify the removal of some, but not all records, and whether it can feasibly be done.

And finally, there was drama in the USA last weekend, where race leaders followed the lead car off course, and eventually lost podium spots and prize money. Calls to award those athletes the prize money and places at the World Champs have been growing in volume, and we discuss why the logical solution is not all that tricky, despite the letter of the law standing in the way.

Links

• Anthony Watson admits to cheating the Concussion protocols to continue playing
• I mentioned the World Rugby Player Welfare Symposium, it's next week (9 to 11 Mach), it's online and it's free to everyone. Here are the details and programme
• Sexias power analysis - these guys generally get it pretty close
• Cycling is looking to catch a big name doper, according to the NYT
• Tara Moore's case against the WTA
• Keely Hodgkinson's interview with The Times
• Video of athletes going the wrong way in Atlanta

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