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Hearsay and emotion rather than fact
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Re: Foul play leaves very bad taste, June 20 letter.

My son is the alleged aggressor mentioned in this letter. Like the writer, I was not present so I can’t really say if the allegations are true or not — but it does seem that they are based on emotion and hearsay rather than fact.

My son’s interpretation of events around these allegations is contradictory to that relayed in this letter.

From what my son has told me, it was not a deliberate act but an unfortunate accident.

What concerns me more is the immature antics of the adults present who verbally abused and threatened my son and his coach/referee.

Obviously these were the parents and supporters of the opposition team.

This is my son’s first season of rugby ever and this was his fifth or sixth actual game, so he is a novice in the fundamentals of rugby. He is improving game by game but still lacks experience.

Rugby is a contact sport and people can and do get hurt, which is unfortunate.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the heightened emotion surrounding a child getting hurt — deliberately or not, it is never a pleasant occasion.

However, in this case my son said it was an accident. His foot got stuck while he was pushing in a ruck and when he pulled it out, his knee came up and hit the boy in the head — accidentally, not intentionally.

The players from the other team and the adult supporters there accused him of foul play and made him feel unsafe, so he took a defensive position against them by standing up for himself, which I guess at the time portrayed a lack of remorse.

At the end of the day we are talking junior grade rugby not regional or international rugby. Accidents do happen.

IT WAS AN ACCIDENT
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