Thursday 6 April 2017 08:56, UK
Twenty-one years ago I broke my neck at C4, which means my fourth cervical vertebra. It was a freak accident and I was very lucky to make a full recovery, although I never played the game again.
For the last 12 years, I've been a trustee for the RFL Benevolent Fund, the charity arm of the sport that was set up to help those who suffered serious spinal injury whilst playing the game.
Both experiences give me some knowledge of what could have occurred when Brett Ferres tackled Oliver Gildart last Friday night in Leeds.
This article isn't a personal attack on Brett Ferres, it's an attempt to raise awareness and prevent a serious injury occurring. Spinal injuries have very serious life-long consequences and we must do what we can to avoid and prevent them.
I've watched the tackle again several times and have come to the conclusion that it wasn't intentional. I've had to, because I really don't think that a sane player would go into a tackle intending to permanently injure an opponent in this way. The game has always had some mean and tough characters but I don't think any of them would ever intend to break somebody's back on purpose.
In some cases, the fact that the attacker is reversing to gain ground with his back facing towards his opponents try line, added to the fact that the defender is trying to push his opponent to the floor so that the man with the ball ends up on his back, allowing the defenders team-mates more time to get ready for the next play-the-ball, has resulted in incidents like this.
If Brett Ferres had intended to seriously injure a player we would have seen evidence of this in some of the other 30 tackles that he was involved in during the game. He was not running around like a mad-man, but acted like one in this play.
However, a look back at his disciplinary record indicates that he does not appear to be learning from his experiences.
This is the sixth time since 2009 that he has been called before the Disciplinary Committee for dangerous tackles or throws. Back in April 2014 he was handed a five-match ban for a bad tackle on Jonny Lomax and only last June he was called to explain why he applied unnecessary pressure to the head/neck of Michael Simon at Wakefield. The panels finding was that the DVD was not clear and had insufficient evidence to find him guilty.
One of the problems that the game faces is that in these types of tackle it is difficult to see exactly what is going on. It wasn't immediately obvious what had happened after he tackled Gildart and took several other camera angles to show the pain and position that the young Wigan Centre ended up in.
The fact that these types of tackles are often invisible to the referee, crowd and viewer at home makes it even more important that we all do everything that we can to rid them from the game.
In a career of almost 300 matches, 17 of which have been for England, Brett Ferres has wandered around West Yorkshire. He's played at Bradford, Wakefield, Castleford, Huddersfield and Leeds and needs to learn once and for all after this incident that he has a duty of care to the man he is tackling. In the summary of the players submission at the disciplinary hearing, he claimed not to know where Oliver Gildart's head was, which should not be an acceptable excuse.
If we assume, and I do, that there was no deliberate intent to injure, is it just an ignorance of how this type of tackle could injure? What is the long-term solution that eradicates the risk of injury from this type of tackle?
The panel found him guilty of the deliberate use of a dangerous technique to complete a tackle . He pleaded guilty and is said to have shown some remorse, which is perhaps why he received only a six-match not an eight-game ban.
Over the last three seasons, the NRL in Australia have had a total of 33 'crusher' tackles reviewed by their committees. They've issued a combined total of 28 weeks suspension in the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons. So far this year, no one has been suspended for it Down Under and I hope that this is the last one of its kind that we see in Super League.
Driving home from the game in Leeds last Friday I had a hands-free call from a friend of mine called Luke Bryan. Luke suffered a serious spinal injury playing rugby league for Haydock 20 years ago and watches all of the games on Sky Sports. He still loves the game even though he can no longer play it, and enjoys it when it's at its most physical, but he often gives me a different perspective.
I value his opinion on the game and was very interested to hear his suggestion about the video referee in relation to the tackle by Ferres on Gildart.
In his opinion, he thought that for dangerous play, the video referee should be able to intervene. Some tackles and incidents are almost invisible to the referee but are quickly and easily spotted with the action replays which are shown. Luke felt that on special occasions, the video referee should be able to instruct the referee to issue a red card.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the video referee having a greater involvement in the game, but if it's alright for him to check if a player has his foot on the 40-metre line when he goes for a 40/20 kick, then surely it's more important that he gets involved on incidents of dangerous play when red or yellow cards need to be issued.
Those of you who have watched the game for a few years may recall a so-called 'cannonball' tackle by Rangi Chase on Brett Ferres in April 2015. It was dangerous contact with the knee and Ferres was out injured and missed six games.
Chase was given a seven-match suspension and hasn't been charged with that offence since. That incident may well have been the end of the 'cannonball' tackle and I sincerely hope that this one is the last of the 'crushers'.
I've written all of this without saying that the most important thing here is that Oliver Gildart makes a full recovery. It's perhaps too early to know what effect this tackle may have on his career and I'm sure that we're all hoping that he gets back to his best later this season.
Every coach and player has a responsibility to prevent the 'crusher' tackle from happening in the future. I know that we all want to win, but staying healthy is more important. Accidents happen, but ones from this type of tackle must be avoided.
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