17/08/2026
💪 Hard ground, strong bodies. What every player can do right now.
Yesterday we looked at some of the science behind the season delay and why rock-hard ground is a genuine welfare issue. The response was brilliant, from players in both codes, all saying the same thing: the pitches are as hard as anyone can remember, and everyone wants to be back playing safely.
So here's the constructive follow-up. The ground's still hard, and it'll stay firm for a while yet. But there's a lot you can do to protect yourself, and most of it doesn't need you to wait for training.
Not Everyone has access to top notch S & C coaches so meet ACTIVATE, the free injury prevention programme developed by the RFU with the University of Bath. It's not guesswork. It came from one of the largest studies of its kind in the world, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and carried out at exactly our levels, RFU levels 3 to 9.
The findings are striking. Players following the programme saw a 60% reduction in concussion and a 40% reduction in lower-limb injuries, the knee and ankle damage that firm ground drives, and which make up around half of all community rugby injuries.
And here's the kicker: the more you do it, the more it works. The clubs that committed properly saw the biggest gains. This isn't a box to tick.
The best part for right now? You don't have to wait for the coach. The "Be Ready" resources target specific areas, ankle, knee, hips, core, shoulder and neck. Worried about your knees on firm ground? Go and work on exactly that, at home, in your own time, for free. The delay has handed a lot of us a couple of extra weeks. No better time to get ahead of it.
Most of us have played on grounds similar to the ones we're all staring at now, and I clearly didn't do enough to protect my joints taking the punishment (or maybe i was just unlucky 😏). But like a lot of you i needed numerous ops and eventually I had to have both knees replaced a couple of years ago.
When you're twenty five and bulletproof you shake off the bumps and get yourself fit for another go, but the body keeps the receipts. A few minutes of prep now, the kind the study shows cuts lower-limb injuries by 40%, is a tiny price to pay for the version of you that still wants to get up the stairs comfortably in a few years.
The delay is a frustration. It's also an opportunity. Arrive back better than you left.
Look after yourselves out there. The season will keep a couple of weeks. Youre gonna need them knees a lot longer. 🏉
Full piece and the free ACTIVATE link on grassroots pulse
link in comments.
