The Sleeping Giant wrote:Plenty of "professionals" have played the game and "survived".
Yeah, I knew and worked with two personally, Keith Le Page and Tony Clarkson.
It is simply a matter of how much risk you are prepared to take, and at 13 I was already thinking of becoming a surgeon who would need working hands.
I had seen the genuine accidents in which Wally Miller got his sudden attack of "Polio" on the field under Don Lindner's flying knees and Jon Moody lost a kidney in his one game for Norwood.
But I had also watched , live, Neil Kerley (and Fos Williams mob) at work, and that probably influenced me when, at 13, I opted for Hockey.
You can get nasty injuries in that sport, too, but it is genuinely accidental as "taking out" players is not as much part of the culture.
I didn't mind the accident risk, but I wanted to be able to concentrate on the game I was playing not the snipers.
I was also happy to take the risks in Judo, Wrestling, and later horse riding.