On 9/26/2023 at 12:10 PM, praha said:

HIV has been pretty much eradicated in Australia. Further, the chances of getting HIV from simply touching infected blood is close to 0%. It is 0% if the person is on treatment. An AFL player would know they have HIV given they undertake medicals. Thus they'd be on treatment which is eradication in practice insofar as they don't stop treatment. 

The blood rule has way more to do with protecting the person bleeding, than it does protecting those around them.

 

The original reason for the blood rule was purely to protect others, not the person who’s bleeding.

Variations of the blood rule were introduced in sports around the world largely as a result of Olympic diver, Greg Louganis’ situation where he hit his head on the springboard when a dive went wrong during qualifying at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. He bled into the pool. At the time he knew he was HIV-positive, he’d been diagnosed a few months prior, but he didn’t disclose it until about 10 years later. This angered many people; they accused him of knowingly putting other competitors at risk of contracting HIV. That’s what prompted the introduction of the rule, in general.

On your point about HIV being pretty much eradicated in Australia, a close friend of mine was diagnosed less than a year ago, and while it’s no longer the death sentence it once was, he was extremely ill and wracked with pain. He was immediately put on antiretroviral medication which came with some really nasty side effects. He will now be on meds for the rest of his life. Moreover, the person from whom he contracted it died but by that time it was too late, he’d already been infected. So while it is indeed relatively rare nowadays, it’s still around and it’s not something to be taken lightly. 

This also addresses your point about players knowing if they’re HIV-positive… not necessarily so since it’s something that is specifically tested for, it doesn’t come up in a routine blood test. 

Edited September 27, 20231 yr by WalkingCivilWar

Pre HIV I used to think the more blood on my face the better

Had my nose broken in a Grand Final from a back hander and refused to let the trainer wipe the snot and blood away until half time

A lot of opposition got out of my way that day and the backhander guy kept looking over his shoulder waiting for the even up

Was a better tactic than evening up

Losers can please themselves.