When was the rugby shoulder pads made and why?

Answer 1

Answer

i dont know when they were made, but they were made to protect you in general play and mostly when you go into a tackle

In specific, they are designed to protect the collarbone (A fairly vulnerable bone when tackling).

To clarify what is meant by shoulder pads (mainly for Americans), they are shirts worn under a player's jersey, with around a quarter inch (or less) of padding (no plastic as it is illegal). And, while not rare, few people wear them.

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In the 70's many plays whose job required constant shoulder contact placed cotton wool padding and taped these to their shoulders (some props, lock forwards and wind forwards) Later a stretchy material top was made called surprise surprise Body armour. This was accepted by the Rugby Football Union as the garment contained NO hard materiel. However, shoulder pads are a very controlled point in the agreed players wear. The largest supplier in 2008/09 of body armour was "Rhino".

There is actually a misunderstanding regarding this garment. Players predominantly where it to stop stud damage caused by the illegal racking of the studs against a plays body. The studs most plays use are the same length across the boot as a soccer player wears in their heels - This is to gain MORE grip when scrummaging rucking and mauling . The body armour became more accepted in the early 80's as there were some server woulds caused by illegal rucking and stamping