Broken arms, legs, collarbones, and concussions are all commonplace in rugby. Personally, I have snapped ligaments in my shoulder and knee both requiring extensive surgery and time off work.
There is no requirement for rugby players to have an insurance policy. However, most players play with clubs affiliated with their country’s governing body which automatically provides them with basic insurance cover. The player then needs to decide if this level of coverage is sufficient for their needs.
There is a lot to unpack here as regards whether or not you should take out a specific insurance policy for rugby, including the stage of life, salary, financial dependents, risk of injury, level of rugby, location, and more. Let’s dig into this a bit further.
Should you take out insurance for rugby?
Whilst it is tempting to think that because you most likely have been automatically enrolled in an insurance policy via your club you do not need any extra cover.
However, you need to remember that the union’s basic policy is only designed for the worst-case scenarios such as spinal cord injuries and death.
Suffering from the most common injuries, such as broken bones and torn ligaments could result in you not being able to work and this basic cover would not help you cover your living expenses or loss of salary.
The Irish Rugby Union makes this point very clearly:
“The Union believes it has a responsibility to provide a minimum level of insurance cover and therefore the scheme is compulsory for all Clubs.
This compulsory scheme is intended to primarily cover catastrophic injuries only and, whilst the” benefit may appear substantial, it will not necessarily be sufficient to cover future needs if a player is severely injured.
Players should understand acknowledge and accept that there are risks of injury (including serious injury) and death in the course of playing and training for Rugby and the player voluntarily accepts such risk of injury or death.
Players should be aware that the compulsory scheme does not provide payment of medical expenses or loss of earnings, nor does it cover fatal collapse unless a physical accident precedes same whilst in training or on the match pitch.”
Irishrugby.ie
Perhaps as a young carefree player with no responsibilities then you might be satisfied with this most basic level of cover, providing that you live in a country with a free health care system, such as the National Health Service (NHS) in England.
That said, if you are injury-prone then and want to get back on the pitch as fast as possible then waiting times for operations and physiotherapy are most likely not going to meet your needs very well.
You might want to read: Do rugby players in the UK have insurance?
How common are injuries in rugby?
| Stage | Injuries/1000 hours of play | Games per injury |
| Professional | 91 | 9 |
| Amateur | 46.8 | 16 |
| Youth/Adolescent | 26.7 | 28 |
Studies suggest that in adult male amateur rugby there is a match injury rate of 46.8/1000 player hours or 1 per 16 games, and one moderate to severe injury every 66 games which take over 28 days to recover from.
Unsurprisingly, forwards are more injury-prone than backs and the tackler is at the greatest risk of being injured followed by the ball carrier and then players involved in rucks and mauls.
The most common injury locations are knee joints, shoulder joints, and the thigh area. The leading type of injuries are sprains, fractures, and bruises.
In professional male rugby, the injury rate shoots up to 81/1000, or 1 every 9 games. However, in youth and adolescent sports, the rate drops to just 26.7/1000 hours, with one injury every 28 games.
So, your age, level, position, medical history, profession, and responsibilities outside of rugby which only you and your coaches know, should be significant factors in whether you decide to take out rugby insurance or not.
The only thing we can say is that with an average of thirty games per season most adult players should expect to have one serious injury every couple of years. Food for thought.
The above information is based on the following study: Yeomans C, Kenny IC, Cahalan R, et al. The Incidence of Injury in Amateur Male Rugby Union
You might also want to read: Do rugby players in the US have insurance?
Teenage prodigy’s career destroyed
As a teenager, I played with a very talented scrum-half who would most likely have made the professional game had it not been for a series of shoulder dislocations.
Initially, he had operations with the NHS but as the ‘shoulder popping outs’ became more frequent he found the waiting times too long and they were impeding his recovery.
It was very painful for him to watch teammates who he was better than go on to play representative rugby and gain contracts that could have been his.
Eventually, he switched to a private insurance policy but at an expensive premium due to his long-standing shoulder issues. This did help him to sort his shoulder out sooner, but obviously, he wishes he had done this from the beginning.
Another significant point to consider is that of loss of earnings. If you have financial dependents, such as children to take care of, a mortgage to pay, car payments, school tuition fees and so on then it would be highly advisable to take out a specific personal insurance policy for rugby.
Personally, I have two boys and we have a great life, however, if I had a serious rugby injury and could not work my contract would most likely not be renewed.
I would then probably have to relocate to find work, my kids would have to go to new schools, and all the time I would be using my savings for daily living costs.
I don’t know how many months we would be able to get by but I do know that our lifestyles would be significantly different. In fact, thinking about it now has put me off from going to training tonight!
I don’t want to scare monger but not being able to work would be a significant financial blow to anyone. The Rugby Football Union in the UK’s basic insurance policy does not cover you for loss of earnings, so basically, you are on your own!
Also check out: Do rugby players wear helmets?
Age concerns
Also from personal experience, now in my mid-forties, I still play occasionally but the risk of injury is on my mind a lot more than it used to be. The body simply does not recover as fast as it used to and seems to break more easily.
Having been fortunate to have had private health care policies through my work meant I had my shoulder surgery in a world-class medical facility with top doctors and in almost 5-star luxury.
It would be quite alarming to not be able to get this level of service and care should I experience another serious injury.
In my case though I do not live in the UK and any time I go to the hospital costs money and so I have made sure that my health insurance policy does specifically cover me for rugby injuries.
On a side note though, if you get a health insurance policy and you think it covers you for rugby then be very careful with the wording.
A friend of mine was caught out badly. He tore his bicep muscle clean off the bone and it was just curled up at the top of his arm, it looked comical!
He thought his health insurance covered him but they claimed that because the referee was not registered with the union, the game was not an official game of rugby and that he was therefore not covered.
Fortunately, as his workplace had a significant contract with the insurance company they paid out but not after causing considerable stress. So, read the small print on any policies you do purchase and adhere to them!
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Information source
Source: Yeomans C, Kenny IC, Cahalan R, et al. The Incidence of Injury in Amateur Male Rugby Union: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med. 2018;48(4):837-848. doi:10.1007/s40279-017-0838-4