Crash diet rugby boys

Photo / Kenny Rodger

Children are starving themselves to qualify for rugby teams with weight restrictions, and the problem is worst among boys trying to qualify for representative teams.

The New Zealand Rugby Union says the problem is continuing despite frequent warnings.

In the latest Coaching Small Blacks manual - aimed at players aged 13 and under - it lists saunas, fluid restriction and crash dieting as techniques children should avoid because they cause dehydration and undernourishment and interfere with normal growth.

"Anecdotally we hear of instances where players have lost weight to make a team they want to play for," said NZRU community rugby manager Brent Anderson. "This is absolutely not something we encourage."

A coach of an under-9 team in the Far North said he knew of children from opposition teams going on crash diets.

Junior delegate at the Suburbs Rugby Club in Auckland, Russell Geddes, said the practice was becoming more common and he considered it akin to cheating.

"I know for a fact there's been a coach who has taken boys to a sauna for an hour a time over a week. It's detrimental to these boys' health at the age of 11, 12 and 13.

"They cut their food right down and put them in the sauna, and then they start wondering why the boy's tired and can't concentrate at school and when they do make the weight the body puts it back on again."

Geddes said Suburbs strongly opposed the practice but he did not blame boys who dieted.

"I firmly believe it's the coaches and the parents, because they want their boys to play with that particular coach or in that grade because it's restricted and they won't get hurt."

Weight-restricted rugby is designed to stop physically mature boys hurting smaller opponents and making the match an uneven contest.

From the under-8 grade boys can play in restricted or open sides, but even open grades are capped at a certain weight.

Auckland Rugby Union guidelines say boys in the under-12 restricted grade must weigh no more than 49kg and cap the open grade at 74kg. Heavier boys must move to the next age grade.

The union's junior rugby council deputy chairman Brian Francis said open grades were capped two years ago because of concern about the size of some players.

"We had some juggernauts. Three years ago I refereed an under-12 final and there were two boys in there who we weighed and they were 121kg each."

Boys are weighed only once, at the beginning of the season, although there are occasional random checks.

But Geddes said spot checks weren't working. "There are people who go around and do random check-ups on certain teams, but coaches get wind of it so they don't play the boys that day."

Weight restrictions have long been contentious in junior rugby, especially with intermediate-age boys reaching adolescence at different stages.

Racial differences are also a factor.

Francis is also junior delegate at the Grammar Rugby Club in Remuera, where youngsters are largely Pakeha and at the lower of end of the weight bracket.

"Auckland's a particularly interesting rugby area because of our strong Pacific Island influence," he said.

"We haven't won a championship because we haven't been able to field big boys, but in saying that we've reached the final two years ago [in the under-13 restricted grade] with a bunch of little boys who had great skills."

Francis said he often fielded complaints from parents worried about how their boys would cope against bigger players, but thought the weight restrictions were working well.

Geddes said most of his club's junior players were Pacific Islanders and many were very big.

Last year Suburbs proposed increasing weight restrictions by 3kg across the board, but the Junior Rugby Council rejected the plan.

A tall order
Cory Mcdougall lost 4kg in just a week to make it into his club's under-13 rugby team - and he did it by legitimate means.

The 12-year-old, who plays for Suburbs, had to be 55kg or under, but last week he weighed about 59kg. Cory was on a strict Weight Watchers diet and going for regular runs, but didn't hold out much hope of dropping the weight.

"It's pretty hard," he admitted.

It's not like the Glen Eden Intermediate student needed to lose a few pounds - quite the opposite.

"I'm the skinniest person you'd ever meet," he said.

Cory is heavy because of his height. The pre-teen lock is almost 1.8m tall.

Last week Cory was philosophical about his chances of making the grade and was not going to starve himself to do so.

If he didn't manage to drop a few kilos, Cory could have moved up to the under-14 grade. But somehow he made it - at the Suburbs weigh-in this week, he scraped in at 55kg. "Now I just have to keep it off," he said.

He felt fitter and said he did not think he would struggle to keep the weight off.

- ALICE NEVILLE