Soccer: 11-man game is safer than rugby

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Rugby players are more likely to suffer injuries - in training and competition - than their soccer-playing counterparts.

The results of a year-long study and comparison of injuries sustained by players aged between 14 and 18 were revealed yesterday by Fifa's medical chief, Professor Jiri Dvorak.

The report showed that rugby players incurred 1.5 times more overuse and training injuries in relation to exposure time and 2.7 times more match injuries than soccer players.

"Our study showed 15.5 per cent of rugby injuries involved the head and neck [including concussion] but only 5 per cent in soccer," said Dvorak, who spent time in New Zealand last year working with Dr Tony Edwards and the staff of adidas Sports Medicine Clinic in Auckland.

"In comparison, 78 per cent of all soccer injuries, but just 43 in rugby, involve the lower extremities [from the hips down]."

In conclusion, the report, presented to a sports medicine conference in Los Angeles, showed the incidence of injury in New Zealand school teams was high, probably in part because of the low ratio of hours spent in training in relation to game time.

Dvorak, while part of the Fifa medical team, was adamant this was an unbiased report.

"Our main concern for both sports is that they do not allow players to play with injuries," Dvorak said.

"We are simply offering the facts to back our findings."