Ban tackling in rugby, heading in football – in fact, why not just ban sport altogether to keep our precious kids in a ‘safe space’?
Yes, sport can be dangerous and children can get hurt, sometimes seriously – but the benefits far outweigh the risks
The boy, then eight, broke an eye socket when he was kicked in the face and his mother wanted HK$223,000 in compensation.
Absolute nonsense, anybody who’s played football would reply, but in a city often seemingly clueless about sport, a daft judgment from a daft judge might not have surprised.
Well done then to judge Winnie Tsui Wan-wah, who said it would be “against the common sense of any ordinary person who plays soccer” that kids should have to wear helmets or goggles to play, the mother’s suggestion.
You do wonder about mum’s motivation, especially since it apparently took her two years to decide only some cash could finally heal her little angel.
But even if she only wanted to “ensure the safety” of other kids, it still speaks to a strange thread in the zeitgeist of putting “safety” – in body and in mind – above all else.