"Chicken wing" tackle should be outlawed (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

"Chicken wing" tackle should be outlawed

9:59am Wednesday 16th April 2008 in

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Given the current furore about all these battered bodies limping around Super League, the last thing we need is more injuries. Especially ones that are preventable.
In time, the controversial “chicken wing” tackle will inevitably end in players getting crocked.
Bradford’s Andy Lynch was lucky when he took evasive action against Hull KR, his non-ball-carrying arm twisted, prone and ready to be pressurised by Clint Newton.
Anyone who saw it occur at Craven Park will have winced. Watching it back on DVD and it’s one of those where you shudder as well.
Lynch avoided injury but only because he relented in the tackle and hit the floor on his back, nothing any player, especially a prop trying to get his side out of their own 20, does lightly.
The tactic achieved it’s aim for Newton, who was trying to halt his man and slow the play-the-ball, but it is a gruesome way of getting the upper hand.
Such tackles have created plenty of headlines in Australia, where, typically, they first came to the fore.
Melbourne created a storm all of their own after some of their players were seen adopting the ploy and Newton has just arrived from the NRL champions.
Brisbane boss Wayne Bennett went ballistic after one of his team had his shoulder busted by the clinical but contentious technique, leading to Melbourne’s Adam Blair becoming the first player in the NRL to be charged with a “chicken wing” tackle earlier this month. He avoided a ban after taking the early plea.
After Newton became the first Super League player to be called up on such a charge on Tuesday, it emerges RFL referees boss Stuart Cummings contacted his Aussie counterpart Greg McCallum to see how best to deal with the situation.
In the end, Newton escaped a ban but was fined £300 for the dangerous tackle after being found guilty of “behaviour contrary to the true spirit of the game”.
Earlier, he had said to the Sydney press: “If you blokes in Australia sneeze, England catches a cold.
“England has to worry about their own precedents and not follow those set in Australia.”
Well, if that’s the case, I’ll get the Beechams in. The game over here has followed the Aussie lead all too often in the past – often not for the better – but in this instance the RFL must be praised for the stance they have taken.
The sport is tough enough as it is without this brutal tactic being employed any further and anything that can be done to snuff it out before it becomes commonplace has to be applauded.
They have sent the warning sign to the rest of Super League by bringing Newton to task but the area is still grey and open to interpretation as to what is a “dangerous” tackle. They should go a step further and outlaw it completely.