Rugby battle wounds

[Ymx]

The other thread talking about playing got me wondering.

Who here has been badly injured from rugby, or not?

I got off lightly, despite playing second row and back row.

Never been concussed.
Only times I’ve gone off are for
- knee got smashed, but actually it was fine about 20 mins later
- ankle got badly twisted, heard a sound, and was out for several weeks. Well actually it was the last game I played. 3rd time I’d rolled my ankle in the space of a year.

But other than that I consider myself very lucky. No broken bones, ripped ligaments, bad head injuries.

Share your stories …

[Uncle fester]

Nose broken 3 times.

[Sandstorm]

Nose broken 3 times.

Gobby 9?

[laurent]

Starting from the bottom

Left Ankle badly twisted It got trapped into a ruck and got cleared out... (Playing for Neuchatel in switzerland

Right knee at 17 (ACL torn) it was a friendly... playing for Brétigny

Left knee at 37 (ACL torn) it was a friendly playing for clontarf (some cunt dived into my leg)

Fibula on the left got almost broken (still have funnies on that side I suspect some nerve damage on the shoulder) playing for Neuchatel some prick took a run at me when I was stepping over a ruck.

Right shoulder damaged playing golden olddies with Clontarf against Germans, one dived on me when I was diving for a ball I took both our weights on the shoulder

Windpipe got kicked accidentally and I ended in hospital (due to some minor swelling I got hyperventilation/panic breathing). neuchatel

got concussed at least twice one from a punch in a maul (Bretigny) and second time was in Clontarf with some idiot that ran straight into the previous ruck were I was just getting up...

I also got concussed playing american football in belfast for a dublin team...

that's about it...

[sockwithaticket]

The most enduring 'wound' is my right shoulder. Landed awkwardly on it catching a high ball, never got it checked out properly and just dealt with the soreness for a few weeks. It grinds (non-painfully, admittedly) in ways that my left doesn't while exercising and has for the last decade plus really. It gets achy in the cold.

One definite concussion.

My baby teeth stayed in longer than is normal and an errant boot helped dislodge a couple of the stubborn buggers at 16.

Only played for 7 years, mostly at school, and was a back three player, so fairly limited opportunity for injury compared to some others.

[dkm57]

Fractured radius, ulna and scaphoid in my right arm, breaking through a lineout to nail a scrum half we both landed on top of my arm on a frozen rutted pitch.

Fracture tibia, when some galumphing lock stomped on it in training.

Dislocated right shoulder, tackle went wrong.

Built like a 9 but generally played flanker

[Kiwias]

Compound fracture of my ankle when driven backwards then down taking a tackle.

[Jim Lahey]

Broken jaw (quick hands for the match winning try, got a shoulder in the face for my trouble).

Broken toe in a maul.

Dislocated shoulder emptying the opposition's "big guy".

Sparked out proper 3 times.

Broken wrist.

*not all in the same game.

I've now taken up cycling at the ripe old age of 33
Though still managed to wreck my hand and back getting knocked off my bike by a car a few weeks ago.

[Uncle fester]

Nose broken 3 times.

Gobby 9?

Flanker
First one was when I tried to tackle the coach, who was still an active adult player, when I was 15.

[assfly]

Stiches above both eyes, with scars to prove it.

ACL in my right knee that pretty much stopped me playing.

Also took a knock once that made my penis really, really big.

[Blackmac]

A broken back virtually forced me out of the game at 25. Spent a year out and on my third game back I got another severe neck injury which kept me in hospital for 3 days and out of the game for another 6 months. Tried to play a couple of times after that but with a young family I didn't have the desire anymore. I have a nice wee calcified ridge on the broken vertebrae which causes me the odd problem to this day.

[Jim Lahey]

Stiches above both eyes, with scars to prove it.

ACL in my right knee that pretty much stopped me playing.

Also took a knock once that made my penis really, really big.

Were you playing against Percy Montgomery that day?

[Paddington Bear]

Got off very, very lightly really. Taken stamps to the knees, ankles, balls and head, though fortunately the last of those was not with full force, and in fairness I was a relentless cheat of a blindside always where I shouldn't be. Also got smashed so hard in the ribs/abdomen dealing with a slap off the top of a lineout that I threw up on the pitch, the laughter from the touchline hurt just as much.

[Ymx]

Nose broken 3 times.

Gobby 9?

[Sards]

Not Rugby....but my eldest got hit on mid thigh by a cricketball coming at him at 120k/h.
At first it was a round red welt the size of a cricket ball....now its a purple round bruise the size of a side plate....obviously less purple going outward....These kids carry it as a matter of pride and are quite willing to show all and sundry....and you just know the coaches and mates are going to hit it every oppurtunity....

[Slick]

Cracked sternum

broken ribs

chipped elbow bone

Only remember one proper concussion when I was about 14, but a few woozy moments.

used to have terrible problems with my hamstrings

Always thought I got off pretty lightly

[Blackmac]

Not Rugby....but my eldest got hit on mid thigh by a cricketball coming at him at 120k/h.
At first it was a round red welt the size of a cricket ball....now its a purple round bruise the size of a side plate....obviously less purple going outward....These kids carry it as a matter of pride and are quite willing to show all and sundry....and you just know the coaches and mates are going to hit it every oppurtunity....

One of my dads best friends played county cricket and one year when we were down on holiday, he had an injury and asked me if I would like to act as runner for him. I think I was 12. First ball to the other end and the batsman drove the ball low into my knee, totally shattering my kneecap.

[Slick]

A broken back virtually forced me out of the game at 25. Spent a year out and on my third game back I got another severe neck injury which kept me in hospital for 3 days and out of the game for another 6 months. Tried to play a couple of times after that but with a young family I didn't have the desire anymore. I have a nice wee calcified ridge on the broken vertebrae which causes me the odd problem to this day.

Jesus. I think the first would have done for me, never mind the third!

[clydecloggie]

One concussion - funnily enough while holding a ruck shield explaining clear out technique to some youngsters, team mate helping me out went full pelt which I didn't expect so keeled straight over and hit the deck hard with the back of my head. Never suffered one in a match. I credit my excellent tackling technique, others will probably suggest a more work-shy explanation.

Despite mainly playing in the back row, my enduring scars are a number of crooked fingers from dislocations and fractures, you'd think I was a back. At least there's the popped-out collar bone to convince people I might legitimately drink in the Pack Lounge.

[SaintK]

Played regularly until I was 47. Didn't miss a season in 30 years.
Dislocated collar bone
Torn cartilidge in left knee
Dislocated fingers ( multiple times)
Lots of stitches
Grazed knuckles
Cracked scaphoid did for me in the end
I reckon I got off lightly. Especially when I compare myself to my son!

[weegie01]

In my early teens I ended up with Osgood-Schlatter Disease which tends to happen most often in growing adolescents involved in sports involving jumping (I was a long / triple jumper) and can be triggered by impact. In my case a hard kick to the knee. Weeks in plaster followed, with years of various forms of knee support. It did not fully resolve until was in my 30s and as a teen / early adult I was like an old man with arthritis getting pain when it was wet and cold.

After having my neck x-rayed in my 30s, I was surpised when the surgeon asked when I had broken my neck. I remembered the game and my neck being stiff for a few days, but it had healed itself. A vertebrae had fractured vertically, but had not moved horizontally so my spinal cord was fine as long as no lateral forces were put on it till it had healed. I happen to have a very strong neck which held everything stable. Luckily it was the last game of the season as another impact before everything healed could have been serious.

I grew up with and played with and against players who went on to district and international levels. My son is similar and has chums playing pro and international. It is staggering to me how many of his peers had to retire in their teens through injury, including him. I do not remember anything like that wastage rate 50 years ago.

[Blackmac]

A broken back virtually forced me out of the game at 25. Spent a year out and on my third game back I got another severe neck injury which kept me in hospital for 3 days and out of the game for another 6 months. Tried to play a couple of times after that but with a young family I didn't have the desire anymore. I have a nice wee calcified ridge on the broken vertebrae which causes me the odd problem to this day.

Jesus. I think the first would have done for me, never mind the third!

Much like Weegie it was a vertical fracture. I actually did it slipping on my arse at a very muddy Mayfield. I recall hearing the crack and thinking "fuck". I just sat there petrified as half the team ran past shouting " get up you lazy Cnut".
Luckily the coach at that time was an orthopaedic surgeon and one of the players a doctor in the parachute regiment and they realised the problem and acted accordingly. Apparently most paras have the same injury at some point in their career.

The neck injury was worse. Destroyed the ligaments in my neck and spent about 12 hours virtually paralysed. Had a medic 1 emergency run from Wattisham to Ipswich with full police escort.
Last maul I ever collapsed.

[inactionman]

I only played schoolboy rugby and got away with a few bloody noses and a bruised larynx in games, although I tore an adductor in my hip in sprint training.

I was going to moan about this adductor causing me a lot of ongoing problems but after reading Blackmac's catalogue of woe I'll wind my neck in.

[Ymx]

Wow, that’s quite a catalogue of bad injuries so far.

[Ymx]

Played regularly until I was 47. Didn't miss a season in 30 years.
Dislocated collar bone
Torn cartilidge in left knee
Dislocated fingers ( multiple times)
Lots of stitches
Grazed knuckles
Cracked scaphoid did for me in the end
I reckon I got off lightly. Especially when I compare myself to my son!

That’s fricken amazing durability I must say SaintK.

[Tichtheid]

A broken back virtually forced me out of the game at 25. Spent a year out and on my third game back I got another severe neck injury which kept me in hospital for 3 days and out of the game for another 6 months. Tried to play a couple of times after that but with a young family I didn't have the desire anymore. I have a nice wee calcified ridge on the broken vertebrae which causes me the odd problem to this day.

Jesus. I think the first would have done for me, never mind the third!

Much like Weegie it was a vertical fracture. I actually did it slipping on my arse at a very muddy Mayfield. I recall hearing the crack and thinking "fuck". I just sat there petrified as half the team ran past shouting " get up you lazy Cnut".
Luckily the coach at that time was an orthopaedic surgeon and one of the players a doctor in the parachute regiment and they realised the problem and acted accordingly. Apparently most paras have the same injury at some point in their career.

The neck injury was worse. Destroyed the ligaments in my neck and spent about 12 hours virtually paralysed. Had a medic 1 emergency run from Wattisham to Ipswich with full police escort.
Last maul I ever collapsed.

My staved thumb and fingers don't seem quite so heroic in light of that.


I lost a front tooth and broke a collar bone from playing, but the two big injuries were not from rugby, I dislocated the ring finger in my left hadn't and it doesn't close properly, this was a result of falling against the gate post on my way off the ice rink - I was so close.
The one that ended my serious rugby was peeling off a sea stack (tide was out) and exploding my ankle, leg and associated ligaments. I also broke my coccyx and had to sit in a rubber ring for a while. Of course that led to my mates asking "How's your arse" every time I went to the rugby club.

[Prembore]

Still waiting for the ex-wingers with their harrowing tales of getting cold and breaking fingernails

[laurent]

Still waiting for the ex-wingers with their harrowing tales of getting cold and breaking fingernails

I played on the wing for a number of the injuries I listed (Played wing forward and centre too...)

[Sandstorm]

None. I never played the game, although I did once get piss on my shoes at Twickenham in the toilets.

[SaintK]

Played regularly until I was 47. Didn't miss a season in 30 years.
Dislocated collar bone
Torn cartilidge in left knee
Dislocated fingers ( multiple times)
Lots of stitches
Grazed knuckles
Cracked scaphoid did for me in the end
I reckon I got off lightly. Especially when I compare myself to my son!

That’s fricken amazing durability I must say SaintK.

Lucky and never played at a particularly high level of junior rugby though still did a season of first XV in my early 40's
My son however?
Broken leg
Broken arm
Ruptured achilles
50+ micro stitches in a head wound (head clash with own team mate!!)
And 10 days in hospital; including intensive care after a staphylacoccus infection from his nose attacked an injury in his wrist!!!!

[Paddington Bear]

Not Rugby....but my eldest got hit on mid thigh by a cricketball coming at him at 120k/h.
At first it was a round red welt the size of a cricket ball....now its a purple round bruise the size of a side plate....obviously less purple going outward....These kids carry it as a matter of pride and are quite willing to show all and sundry....and you just know the coaches and mates are going to hit it every oppurtunity....

One of my dads best friends played county cricket and one year when we were down on holiday, he had an injury and asked me if I would like to act as runner for him. I think I was 12. First ball to the other end and the batsman drove the ball low into my knee, totally shattering my kneecap.

It's funny - a very benign sport until it isn't. I had part of my shin split off from a ball coming back at me at training at Uni and spent a couple of nights in hospital after taking a ball to the back of the head. Still can just about feel the seam mark!

[Bullet]

33 years of senior rugby, halted only by lockdown and fairly lucky throught, plenty of broken toes, fingers and a seemingly constantly changing nose but only injuries causing me to miss games;

Concussion from training ground collision in one of my first seasons, knew nothing about it but also took star second row out for a couple of games.

Stamp on face needed 16 stitches to re-attach eyelid. Doctor in Bath hospital was very good and can only see bit of a scar when tanned.

Broke same wrist twice in one year, preseason whilst warming up and collapsed scrum last game that season

[Blackmac]

Jesus. I think the first would have done for me, never mind the third!

Much like Weegie it was a vertical fracture. I actually did it slipping on my arse at a very muddy Mayfield. I recall hearing the crack and thinking "fuck". I just sat there petrified as half the team ran past shouting " get up you lazy Cnut".
Luckily the coach at that time was an orthopaedic surgeon and one of the players a doctor in the parachute regiment and they realised the problem and acted accordingly. Apparently most paras have the same injury at some point in their career.

The neck injury was worse. Destroyed the ligaments in my neck and spent about 12 hours virtually paralysed. Had a medic 1 emergency run from Wattisham to Ipswich with full police escort.
Last maul I ever collapsed.

My staved thumb and fingers don't seem quite so heroic in light of that.


I lost a front tooth and broke a collar bone from playing, but the two big injuries were not from rugby, I dislocated the ring finger in my left hadn't and it doesn't close properly, this was a result of falling against the gate post on my way off the ice rink - I was so close.
The one that ended my serious rugby was peeling off a sea stack (tide was out) and exploding my ankle, leg and associated ligaments. I also broke my coccyx and had to sit in a rubber ring for a while. Of course that led to my mates asking "How's your arse" every time I went to the rugby club.

That's just the rugby injuries. If I count the shinty ones it is just about every finger, 4 or 5 hand fractures, broken jaw and fractured eye socket and a smashed shin bone. If you consider I only played until I was 21 it's not bad.

[Tichtheid]

Much like Weegie it was a vertical fracture. I actually did it slipping on my arse at a very muddy Mayfield. I recall hearing the crack and thinking "fuck". I just sat there petrified as half the team ran past shouting " get up you lazy Cnut".
Luckily the coach at that time was an orthopaedic surgeon and one of the players a doctor in the parachute regiment and they realised the problem and acted accordingly. Apparently most paras have the same injury at some point in their career.

The neck injury was worse. Destroyed the ligaments in my neck and spent about 12 hours virtually paralysed. Had a medic 1 emergency run from Wattisham to Ipswich with full police escort.
Last maul I ever collapsed.

My staved thumb and fingers don't seem quite so heroic in light of that.


I lost a front tooth and broke a collar bone from playing, but the two big injuries were not from rugby, I dislocated the ring finger in my left hadn't and it doesn't close properly, this was a result of falling against the gate post on my way off the ice rink - I was so close.
The one that ended my serious rugby was peeling off a sea stack (tide was out) and exploding my ankle, leg and associated ligaments. I also broke my coccyx and had to sit in a rubber ring for a while. Of course that led to my mates asking "How's your arse" every time I went to the rugby club.

That's just the rugby injuries. If I count the shinty ones it is just about every finger, 4 or 5 hand fractures, broken jaw and fractured eye socket and a smashed shin bone. If you consider I only played until I was 21 it's not bad.

The most painful one I did was when a sash window without the ropes fell straight on the nail of my fourth finger.

Or at least it felt like it. I think your brain must kick in immediately to kill the pain when the big injuries hit

[Sards]

Not Rugby....but my eldest got hit on mid thigh by a cricketball coming at him at 120k/h.
At first it was a round red welt the size of a cricket ball....now its a purple round bruise the size of a side plate....obviously less purple going outward....These kids carry it as a matter of pride and are quite willing to show all and sundry....and you just know the coaches and mates are going to hit it every oppurtunity....

One of my dads best friends played county cricket and one year when we were down on holiday, he had an injury and asked me if I would like to act as runner for him. I think I was 12. First ball to the other end and the batsman drove the ball low into my knee, totally shattering my kneecap.

Oh my word that is shite luck.

[Stranger]

Broken nose X 2
3 broken metacarpals - at the same time
2 fairly close concussions - followed by several months of headaches - I never really made the connection at the time but in the current context it is worrying that I just carried on playing

[Madness]

In no particular order

Stitches in top of ear after it was ripped a bit away from head
Neck damage in last game at school - couple of weeks in neck brace
Snapped tendon away from bone in left thumb - thumb still not good 30 years later
Broken ribs x2 - one in a game of touch!!
Broken nose - blocked nostril so rebroken under general anaesthetic to put straight again, doc said if he tried doing it with a local I'd flinch when hear it break again and makes it harder to get straight
Torn ankle ligaments - retirement injury, lifted and then dropped at back of lineout, rolled my ankle and everyone heard a crack and moved away!

[Ymx]

In no particular order

Stitches in top of ear after it was ripped a bit away from head
Neck damage in last game at school - couple of weeks in neck brace
Snapped tendon away from bone in left thumb - thumb still not good 30 years later
Broken ribs x2 - one in a game of touch!!
Broken nose - blocked nostril so rebroken under general anaesthetic to put straight again, doc said if he tried doing it with a local I'd flinch when hear it break again and makes it harder to get straight
Torn ankle ligaments - retirement injury, lifted and then dropped at back of lineout, rolled my ankle and everyone heard a crack and moved away!

I feel sick

[Hal Jordan]

Two seizures on the pitch, at least three as a result of the game during "normal" life (epileptics shouldn't play rugby but I couldn't stop).

Both knuckles in my left little finger are frozen due to botching high ball catches so I can't straighten it any more.

Right shoulder subachromial decompression at 27 did for me, combined with only seeing my then girlfriend now wife at the weekend. Continuing playing would have meant ex-girlfriend.

The usual complement of black eyes, broken nose (not Tindall style), boot rakes and the like.

[C69]

I got a lovely fractured cheek bone playing against a Navy team.
The ref ordered me off against my protestations. My eye had closed over and blood was spurting everywhere.
I hadn't realised I had been punched in the face.

Still have the scar as a badge of honour