Concussion controversy raises serious questions
The Luke Cowan-Dickie case illustrates rugby’s grave and nebulous concussion peril.
Michael Aylwin
Guardian rugby correspondent and author
Michael Aylwin has been writing about rugby since the turn of the 20th century, most notably as a correspondent for The Observer and Guardian Group. His book Unholy Union is an in-depth study of rugby in the 21st century, while his novel Ivon is a satire on rugby in the 22nd. Apart from that, his work transcends the arbitrary units of time and space
Pull down the shutters
A Premiership closed shop shouldn’t anger rugby fans like it has in football
The final whistle?
Calls for Eddie Jones to be sacked are growing so someone had to defend the England coach
Soft in the head
Fans debating red cards and the ‘hardness’ of players can’t see the bigger picture
The Times They Are-a-Changin’
Some 150 years since the RFU’s inception, professional rugby finds itself amid a sea of icebergs, any one of which might bring it down.
Collision course
Rugby’s tragic flaw is that the more players improve, the more dangerous they are to one another.
Careful what you wish for
Rather than implement change for the sake of it, rugby’s lawmakers must remain true to the game’s soul.
Closing time
English rugby needs to make sobering call for last orders on promotion and relegation
A case of misplaced nostalgia
Is the unpalatable truth that rugby in days of yore was boorish and bedraggled?