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  Collapsing the scrum is nothing new; I played Rugby Union to a very high level in my younger days and collapsing the scrum was a fact of life even then, in the prehistoric days of the 70s when contact sport was permissible and even actively encouraged.
  
  The scrum collapsed on me when I was playing for Rosslyn Park in 1982 and crushed the coccyx at the base of my spine when enforced early retirement from the sport I love. That injury still affects my body today, and I cannot run the risk of surgery on the injury as it's very close to my spinal cord, and any error in the surgery could have serious consequences.
  
  That is as nothing next to my school friend Chris Burns on whom the scrum collapsed in our final year at school, leaving him wheelchair bound because on that occasion the injury did sever his spinal cord. Despite a lengthy stay in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Chris was left a paraplegic for life. After coming to grips with this catastrophe, he started up a charity for many like himself with injuries that left people disabled for life. Last I knew that charity had raised millions of pounds and helped many.
  
  Chris would never advocate the banning of Rugby, it's a game that embodies the spirit of togetherness that forms lifetime friendships, and a lot of that stems from the fact that it is such a tough physical sport. It's also a lifestyle message - life is tough and you have to learn that. Running away from difficulties, or having a nanny state ban anything that is difficult, is no answer because the difficulties never go away.

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