A chicken wing tackle is a move in

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

, in which a player locks an opponent's arm so that he or she cannot legally move the ball. It is a controversial move that has injured players and resulted in fines and suspensions for players performing the tackle. The phrase was coined by Fox Sports NRL Producer Geoff Bullock (a.k.a. Bluey) in 2008. Australian rules players are particularly vulnerable due to the swinging arm motion of the

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

as a primary method of passing. A chicken wing tackle can pull a player's arm in such a way as to hyperextend arm and shoulder joints, causing the potential for painful dislocation.

Rugby league

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

forward Adam Blair was found guilty of committing a chicken wing tackle in an Australian Rugby League match against

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

in April 2008. A former Melbourne Storm player, of

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

was fined £300 after performing the tackle, with a disciplinary panel finding him guilty of "behaviour contrary to the true spirit of the game by making a dangerous tackle".

Australian rules football

The use of the chicken wing tackle in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

is generally considered to have been picked up from

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

. In Australian rules, the motion of preparing to

is such that there is an opportunity for the tackler can grab and pin the punching arm when it is behind the player's back. This leaves the player in possession exposed to serious shoulder injury. It became a controversy after Kangaroos' skipper Brent Harvey was chicken winged in 2009 during an Australian football match and suffered a dislocated elbow that caused him to miss months of play. The tackle has been furiously slammed by some saying it must be banned. AFL umpires manager Jeff Gieschen in 2009 stated that he was confident the practice would not become commonplace. Notable incidents: * 2009 AFL season - Richmond's Daniel Jackson chicken wing on North Melbourne captain Brent Harvey labelled an accident by AFL tribunal. * 2012 AFL season - Carlton captain Chris Judd chicken winged North player Leigh Adams. Judd was widely criticised in the media for this action and was cited for misconduct by the Match Review Panel. He was subsequently suspended for 4 games by the tribunal. * 2015 AFL season - Joel Selwood was suspended for one week for chicken winging Sam Wright. * 2019 AFL season - Jack Riewoldt fined for chicken wing on Bayley Fritsch. * 2022 AFL season - Sam Switkowski suspended for 2 weeks for chicken winging Jack Ginnivan. Jack Ginnivan cleared of chicken wing against Patrick Dangerfield.AFL clears young Pie of wrongdoing in ‘chicken-wing tackle’
by Max Laughton for Fox Sports 6 September 2022

References

Rugby league terminology Rugby league in Australia Australian rules football terminology Laws of Australian rules football National Rugby League Rugby league controversies Banned sports tactics {{AFL-stub