ABSTRACT
In March 2016, the Sport Collision Injury Collective called upon the UK government to remove tackling from schools’ physical education and school sport. This is because 1) tackling is the leading cause of injury in rugby, 2) rugby has a level of risk that is higher than non-contact sports, 3) there is no requirement or need for tackling as part of the physical education and school sport curriculum, and 4) many children are compelled to participate in contact rugby as part of the physical education and school sport curriculum. This debate has typically contested issues of informed consent and acceptable levels of risk, both issues being firmly positioned in the sociopolitical realm. It is this social concern that I will attend to in this chapter, concluding that the removal of contact in physical education and school sport is both the only logical and viable solution available at this time.
