Putting things into perspective

At the age of 17 Stuart Hogg lost his best friend Richard Wilkinson - a promising rugby player who was also 17 - in a car crash. Hogg was in the back seat and Richard in the front seat.  Hogg was able to break out the rear window and walk away unscathed, only to go round to the front of the car and find his friend dead in the front seat.  Ever since the crash Hogg has had to live with the fact that, if he had decided to sit in the front seat, he would most likely have been the one that died.

Hogg has backed a road safety campaign raising awareness of driving too fast on country roads.  I think everyone should watch it as a reminder, but if you have teenage children who are driving I'm sure you will want them to see it too - it is very hard hitting.

First of all here is an interview with Hogg:



And here's the actual advert:



I think it also serves us as a good reminder that rugby players are just human beings, and human beings make mistakes.  Yes his 'dive' against SA was stupid, and he deserved a reprimand for it, but I'm sure he would have got a lot of abuse for it with people going way over the top with messages of hate, which we see all too often with social media.

Some things are just more important.

I never knew why Hogg does the 'W' sign after scoring a try, but now I do I'm certainly going to give a thought to Richard every time.

Good post RDW.

I remember hearing about it in the news at the time but it sort of passed me by - the saturation of bad news in the media I suppose.

It certainly brings it home when you hear the personal stories behind it.

A bit too familiar to the Dunbar/Longniddry crash of recent years...

Heartbreaking and devestating, lets hope the cause creates the splash it deserves!!!

What chance do these campaigns have when programs like Top Gear have ridiculed the idea of road discipline and safety awareness for years with the endless 'funny' gags about avoiding police and going over speed-limits for fun...racing on public roads etc etc.

Road Safety adverts are simply seen as boring and grandadish by the very young men that they're trying to tame.

This is a great post.

I don't think any of us would condone football style play acting creaping into rugby, but as you say, no need to get silly about it and resort to online abuse.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

I never knew why Hogg does the 'W' sign after scoring a try, but now I do I'm certainly going to give a thought to Richard every time.

Thanks for this. Sobering.

Good post mate

SecretFly wrote:What chance do these campaigns have when programs like Top Gear have ridiculed the idea of road discipline and safety awareness for years with the endless 'funny' gags about avoiding police and going over speed-limits for fun...racing on public roads etc etc.

Road Safety adverts are simply seen as boring and grandadish by the very young men that they're trying to tame.

Been overtaken recently by more young women than young men around my village. Very dangerous and quite unnecessary manouevres. Makes me blydi angry.

Very interesting piece.

It's a great thing for Hogg to do but did the filming have to be done during the World Cup? Can't have been good for Hogg reliving that

Everyone deals with tragedy in their lives, it's not a nice story, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with Hoggs persistent stupidity.  Diving against South Africa and his late and dangerous shoulder charge at Dan Biggars face, not to mention the knee in Liam Williams ribs a few minutes before.  There's competitive and then there's just being a total twát, sadly Hogg is the latter most of the time.  Not to mention the cobb he apparently had when he was knocked out of Lions test contention by man of the series Leigh Halfpenny.  

Really he needs to be taken aside and told he's going to ruin his career and get a terrible reputation if he keeps behaving this way.  He's just about ruined his reputation already, though in truth I'm not sure he's even that talented.  That interception try against Italy a few years ago was great to look at, but you can't build a career off one moment.    

Edit: unless your Gavin Henson*

You're really on a personal tirade against the Scots today aren't you Shifty?

The title of this thread is 'putting things into perspective' -  I'm not saying we should let Hogg off with some of the things he does on a pitch because he lost his best friend in a car crash, I just think the witch hunt that goes on after things like has is pathetic really.

An outsider looking in to the sport must struggle to comprehend why violent acts of foul play - shoulder charges into rucks, neck high tackles, clear outs round the neck etc barely cause any controversy, yet as soon as someone exaggerates contact and takes a dive he's personally lambasted with over the top comments and vitriol.

At worst when you dive you look stupid and undermine the values of the game.

At worst these violent acts of play will seriously hurt someone and could lead to severe disability or worse.

Some things in life are just more important and as I said - things like this help put things into perspective.

You've obviously got issues with Hogg, and personally I think you're showing a real lack of class by airing them on this thread.

Shifty wrote:Edit: unless your Gavin Henson*

"You are" or "you're".

RDW_Scotland wrote:You're really on a personal tirade against the Scots today aren't you Shifty?

The title of this thread is 'putting things into perspective' -  I'm not saying we should let Hogg off with some of the things he does on a pitch because he lost his best friend in a car crash, I just think the witch hunt that goes on after things like has is pathetic really.

No I'm not honestly.  

But to me this thread is an attempt to mitigate the damage to Hogg''s reputation after he's screwed up and embarrassed himself (again).

Part of life is about tragedy and hurt, but this sad chapter in his life shouldn't be used to try and get him sympathy when the type of act he committed against South Africa.  What he tried to do is likely to be repeated by impressionable young players up and down the country who will think it's normal and acceptable.  The good part of rugby is that it isn't football, where a tap on the ankle results in a player throwing themselves to the floor and rolling around as if they've been hit by a tank.  My comments have nothing to do with Scotland and everything to do with the "on field" unsportsmanlike conduct one of their players, who is letting the game down far too often.

Shifty wrote:Everyone deals with tragedy in their lives, it's not a nice story, but I fail to see how this has anything to do with Hoggs persistent stupidity.  Diving against South Africa and his late and dangerous shoulder charge at Dan Biggars face, not to mention the knee in Liam Williams ribs a few minutes before.  There's competitive and then there's just being a total twát, sadly Hogg is the latter most of the time.  Not to mention the cobb he apparently had when he was knocked out of Lions test contention by man of the series Leigh Halfpenny.  

Really he needs to be taken aside and told he's going to ruin his career and get a terrible reputation if he keeps behaving this way.  He's just about ruined his reputation already, though in truth I'm not sure he's even that talented.  That interception try against Italy a few years ago was great to look at, but you can't build a career off one moment.    

Edit: unless your Gavin Henson*

Shifty you really have a downer on us Scots at the moment haven't you. I haven't seen a single contribution that hasn't some sort of gripe.

He is a talented player and if you don't think so that's your opinion, but he is much faster and more of an attacking threat than Halfpenny, who from the FB channel is a better defender and has a great boot but less accurate than Biggar. I would even suggest that the Lions "man of the series" might not have even been selected at FB if Liam Williams was fit as its obvious now that Biggar is just as effective as he is at the dead ball positions and Williams is much more of an attacking threat.

Yes we all agree he can do with getting his head right but he is a young man just turned 23 and as can be seen with Biggar who in many peoples eyes not so long ago was a right derriere on the pitch, you can quickly turn things around.

flyhalffactory wrote:Shifty you really have a downer on us Scots at the moment haven't you. I haven't seen a single contribution that hasn't some sort of gripe.

He is a talented player and if you don't think so that's your opinion, but he is much faster and more of an attacking threat than Halfpenny, who from the FB channel is a better defender and has a great boot but less accurate than Biggar. I would even suggest that the Lions "man of the series" might not have even been selected at FB if Liam Williams was fit as its obvious now that Biggar is just as effective as he is at the dead ball positions and Williams is much more of an attacking threat.

Yes we all agree he can do with getting his head right but he is a young man just turned 23 and as can be seen with Biggar who in many peoples eyes not so long ago was a right derriere on the pitch, you can quickly turn things around.

Biggar whinges a bit when things aren't going right, though I've seen this off players like BOD, and Ronan O'Gara as well over the years. That's not unusual.

Hogg can make good breaks but he so often then undoes all his own work by throwing a loose pass or not thinking about when he's going to do after he's made the break.