Spear tackle

A spear tackle is a dangerous tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football whereby a player lifts another player into the air and dumps or drops them upside down. Spear tackles are particularly dangerous and have caused serious injury including spinal damage, dislocations and broken bones in the shoulder or neck.

Rugby union

The International Rugby Board (IRB) has ruled that a dangerous tackle of this type, sometimes also called a tip tackle, should be punished with a straight red card. An IRB memorandum on dangerous tackles from 8 June 2009 states: "At a subsequent IRB High Performance Referee Seminar at Lensbury referees were advised that for these types of tackles they were to start at red card as a sanction and work backwards."

The IRB amended the law (Law 10.4(j)), as of December 2010 . In the previous version of the law, the tackled player's head or shoulders had to hit the ground first for a referee to penalise them. The revised law removes the possibility of a spearing tackle not being penalised due to "defensive actions of the tackled player when the arms are outstretched to break a fall".

Rugby league

The National Rugby League (NRL) competition in Australia awards a penalty for players being lifted beyond the horizontal, which is often termed a "dangerous throw". Generally these tackles are also put "on report",^{[citation needed]} meaning that in the coming week the judiciary is forced to review the incident and pursue the matter further if deemed appropriate. This term is used throughout the northern and southern hemispheres.

Australian rules football

In the Australian Football League (AFL), it is a reportable offence, and players found guilty face the tribunal and possible suspension with at least a two match ban.^{[citation needed]}

American & Canadian football

In American and Canadian football 'spearing' refers to a player using their body as a spear (head out, arms by their side), whether it be in attack or defence. It is considered legal as long as players do not make initial contact with their head. Illegal use of a spear in gridiron results in either a 15-yard penalty if the offensive player commits the foul or an automatic first down if it is the defensive player.

See also

• Grapple tackle - another controversial tackling technique