Concussion

[David McKeown]

Sorry to hear that David. It's a bollix. I've had several myself, and what I noticed was I got the last one a lot easier than the first.

Thanks. Yeah I had a few over the years but this ones been going 5 days now. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/irish-rugby-players-to-be-part-of-concussion-group-lawsuit-1.4431012

Irish rugby players to be part of concussion group lawsuit
Over 70 players will be part of litigation with IRFU expected to become involved
about 3 hours ago Updated: about an hour ago
Johnny Watterson
Many of the players involved are former internationals from Six Nations Championship unions, all of whom sustained head injuries. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho


A company recently set up in London has written to up to 10 Irish rugby players seeking their permission to be included in a group lawsuit with over 70 other players from around Britain.

It is believed that Irish players are not involved in the first block of cases the company is taking against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.

However, according to a source in London there will be Irish involvement in the next wave of suits with the IRFU expected to become embroiled in future litigation.

The group lawsuit pertains to concussion the Irish players suffered during their playing careers. All of them have now retired due to concerns over the lasting effects of repeated brain injury.

"We have had no contact," said the IRFU in an email yesterday when asked if they were aware of pending litigation.

Many of the players are former internationals from Six Nations Championship unions, all of whom sustained head injuries and suffered from typical concussion symptoms of migraine, loss of memory, insomnia and depression.

The emails, sent to the Irish players last summer say how a new law firm, Ryland Legal Limited, put together by solicitor and director Richard Bordman, were setting up in London and were in the process of putting together a large legal action against various governing bodies to seek damages for retired players in relation to the brain injuries they had suffered.

"We have over 70 former players, including 10 from Ireland, showing symptoms suggesting neurological complications, such as migraines, loss of memory, insomnia, depression and an inability to concentrate. Once we go public, we believe we will be looking at an epidemic.
The email names John Foy QC as the lead counsel and Dr Steve Allder as the expert neurologist. Foy, a highly experienced lawyer, specialises in serious personal injury and clinical negligence cases, occupational disease litigation and costs.

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Dr Allder is a Consultant Neurologist at Re:Cognition Health. He is currently using his clinical expertise to focus on the assessment of patients with traumatic brain injury. He has sub-specialist interest in acute brain injury, cerebrovascular disease, dizziness and medically unexplained symptoms.

"We have over 70 former players, including 10 from Ireland, showing symptoms suggesting neurological complications, such as migraines, loss of memory, insomnia, depression and an inability to concentrate," explains the email sent to Irish players. "Once we go public, we believe we will be looking at an epidemic.

" The reason I write is that I would be keen to speak to you about your own experiences with this issue in rugby.

"Our aims are twofold: 1) to secure financial support for our former players in retirement; and 2) to ensure that current and future players are fully educated on the risks involved in playing, as well as adequately protected. As you know, the NFL has gone through something similar (with a group action), and the sport has never been stronger – nor safer.

"If you fancy a chat, do let me know a convenient time/date and the best way to contact you."

Irish players, who have retired directly due to traumatic head injury while playing rugby include Peter Browne, Declan Fitzpatrick, John Fogarty, Bernard Jackman, Ben Marshall, Kevin McLaughlin, Dave McSharry, Dominic Ryan, Nathan White and Cillian Willis.

It is uncertain if any have agreed to participate in the group action.

The cases could change the nature of the way rugby is conducted with demands to World Rugby also attached to the civil cases. These include limited contact in training, limiting the number of replacements per game, concussion spotters with authority to remove, career-long central database chronicling injury history and the banning of zero hour contracts. They also urge critical research into frontrow forwards by independent academics.

In a class action taken against the NFL in 2012, thousands of players became involved with estimates at a payout set at up to $1 billion.

Ryan is one of the two most recent Irish players along with Ulster secondrow, Browne forced to retire from concussion in 2018. Ryan was 28-years-old and Browne 30-years-old.

The youngest Irish players to retire were 26-year-old Dave McSharry and Ben Marshall, McSharry retiring in 2016 and Marshall, who was playing with Connacht at the time, in 2017. The first two Irish players to retire because of their head injuries were both Ireland hookers, Bernard Jackman and John Fogarty, who stood down in 2010.

It will not be the first time a civil action has been taken in Ireland. A case was initiated in Northern Ireland following the death of Benjamin Robinson from a serious form of concussion, Second Impact Syndrome. The 14-year-old schoolboy did not recover following a series of concussive collisions during a schools rugby match in Carrickfergus Grammar School in 2011.

The named participants in the action were the referee, the school coach, the school, the Ulster Branch, the IRFU and World Rugby. A legal team assembled by World Rugby contested the family's claims. It ran for six years and finally came to a conclusion in December 2019, when all parties signed a non-disclosure agreement covering precise details.

[grounded]

Yes, i read that article. It was inevitable really that such a case (s) would be taken. Reading Bernard Jackman's book and the head injuries he received was sobering. Bound to have ling term repercussions. How many times have Sexton or North received concussions?

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/12/10/pressure-mounting-rugby-authorities/

Pressure is mounting on the rugby authorities
The diagnosis of brain damage among a number of former professionals is a dark shadow over the game

TELEGRAPH VIEW
10 December 2020 • 6:00am
Ever since elite rugby union became a professional game in the mid-1990s, the players have become stronger, fitter and bigger. Many centres and wingers today are the size of forwards in the old amateur days. The game is much more intense at the breakdown, with bone-crunching clear-outs and midfield tackles that can be felt in the stands, or at least could be when crowds were allowed.

Among the consequences of this mix of power and bulk are a lengthy list of injuries, regularly stripping international and premiership teams of many of their best players. But now there is a darker shadow over the game, the diagnosis of brain damage in a number of former professionals. Steve Thompson, the England hooker in the team that won the World Cup in 2003, says he cannot remember the event. He is just 42. He and several other ex-players have joined a legal action that is confronting the game's administrators with some very unpalatable choices.

This issue appears to be associated predominantly with professional rather than amateur rugby, but both have had to respond to safety concerns. Players hit on the head are required to leave the pitch for concussion tests and are rested for weeks if there is any recurrence. Tackling anywhere above the shoulder is now routinely penalised. But a proven link between rugby and degenerative neurological disorders caused by repeated blows to the head, not just in matches but in training, is a different matter entirely.

A class action against rugby's ruling bodies, possibly by dozens of ex-professionals, will bring pressure to limit physical contact that will change the nature of the game.

[sid waddell]

And people think Gaelic football has problems as a sport

I remember reading Dominic Ryan's article when he retired, frightening

One of the few things George Hook was right about in his life that was that rugby as a sport was unsustainable with the amount collisions in it in the modern era

[marty34]

And people think Gaelic football has problems as a sport

I remember reading Dominic Ryan's article when he retired, frightening

One of the few things George Hook was right about in his life that was that rugby as a sport was unsustainable with the amount collisions in it in the modern era

True, it's serious heavy hitting stuff around the head and upper body.

Gaa stuff is child's play in comparsion.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/the-offload-no-eddie-rugby-is-not-a-safer-sport-1.4435735

The Offload: No Eddie, rugby is not a safer sport

Gavin Cummiskey


Junior Seau was the epitome of an NFL linebacker. A 12-time Pro Bowler for the Chargers, the Dolphins and the Patriots, Seau is the cautionary tale that rugby can no longer afford to ignore.

American football has already experienced rugby's incoming post career issues with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The next chapter in the concussion narrative is a spate of domestic violence incidents by ex-players suffering from undiagnosed Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.

"And to presume otherwise would be to repeat the mistake of assuming you had to be a boxer to get CTE," said Dr Willie Stewart, a leading expert in TBI, four years ago. "[HEAD BLOWS] arrive with as high, if not higher frequency, over a career in rugby than American football."

After the violence come the suicides that will lead to documentaries like League of Denialas - children and wives explaining how their father and husband shot himself in the chest so his brain could be preserved for science. Junior Seau pulled the trigger in 2012 aged 43.

Then comes the multi-million-euro settlements alongside a reduction of contact in training as doctors attempt to examine swollen brains, armed with a set of questions (that players will memorise) in a 15 minute window.

Despite what Eddie Jones stated last week, rugby is not a safer sport. The players are leaner, stronger, faster. Never forget that former All Black John Kirwan recently called for a removal of red cards for head shots.

Caelan Doris was concussed twice last season. Last week James Ryan left the field against Scotland for a Head Injury Assessment. Ryan was deemed to have recovered inside seven days. These young, super talented athletes trust that they are receiving the safest possible treatment for brain injuries despite Dr Barry O'Driscoll and Dr Stewart both stating since 2016 that the HIA is deeply flawed.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/gordon-d-arcy-my-dementia-fears-for-the-future-after-rugby-and-the-damage-done-1.4437737

Gordon D'Arcy: My dementia fears for the future after rugby and the damage done

In early 2000s nothing was more important than playing on after receiving a heavy blow. Nothing
Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 05:30

Gordon D'Arcy



Iforgot my phone number recently and panicked. I doubt it was what I fear the most but a shiver went down my spine.

Eventually the 10 digits came back to me.

It is important to remember our concussion stories. Not as important as the technology that is needed to protect rugby players from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

In 2001 the Irish lads returning from the Lions tour of Australia kept going on about the English players' physiques. They were enormous specimens. Second hand stuff about the Leicester Tigers tearing each other to shreds became first-hand accounts by Mal O'Kelly.

Mal spent that summer down under fighting Martin Johnson and Danny Grewcock mid-week - thankfully Jeremy Davidson had his back - so they were ready for whatever John Eales and Justin Harrison threw at them on the weekend.

Around this time Steve Thompson described the barbaric double training sessions for Northampton and in England camp.

I remember watching Leinster forwards trudge in from their second battering on a Tuesday evening. We – the backs – would be showered, dressed and getting on with our lives while our heavies would be in some state. Bloodied and bruised, not by choice but a necessity to prepare for Jonno's Leicester because we now knew that was how they prepared to hurt us.

The brutality of rugby union in the early 2000s was best summed up by a drill Willie Anderson came up with called Murder Ball. There was no end game, no tries, no scoreboard either. Just two fully stacked XVs squeezed into a quarter of the pitch. The intention was to harden us up ahead of the weekend. Murder Ball struck a primal chord. It was about "sorting the men from boys" with the added threat of "you'll get injured if you're not going full bore."


That was the culture when Steve Thompson, Alix Popham and Michael Lipman suffered the damage that has led to dementia at the age of 40.

Back then, nothing was more important than playing on after suffering a heavy blow. Nothing.

Thankfully I am not writing about myself. I was a winger during the period when rugby was knowingly or unknowingly failing to protect its players. The courts will decide which. Back then, Irish provinces played half the number of games as the English clubs so I like to think I avoided the sub-concussive blows that are chasing so many of my peers into retirement.

Only time will tell.

Worst charge
I have had four serious concussions. Four that I could not hide. Again, that was the culture; to say you were seeing stars or, worse, the black lights of unconsciousness, was to admit to being soft (and as Rassie Erasmus will learn during the 2023 World Cup pool stages, that is the worst charge that can be levelled at a rugby player).

My first serious blow to the head happened as a schoolboy playing for Clongowes. I was knocked out. They sat me down for three weeks. The others were quickly identified by the late Professor Arthur Tanner and Dr Éanna Falvey, a super-heavyweight national champion and the current chief medical officer for World Rugby.

I remember 'The Prof's' words in 2012 as the blood flowed down my forehead and into my eyes: "Hang on Gordon while I check on Brad Thorn's knee - it must be in terrible shape."

'Are you joking!?'

"Yes," Arthur smiled. "Come on, let's patch you up."


The last concussion happened against Australia in 2014. Yet again, I was stunned by friendly fire in a ruck. You never want to leave a Test match and as Dr Falvey eased me down the tunnel I protested: 'Seriously Éanna, I am grand.'


"Let's get you assessed so."

He sat me down in the changing room and asked some basic questions that I could not answer.

"What about the assessment?" I protested but Éanna was already back on the touchline. I was concussed which meant I was disorientated which meant I wanted to play on.

The sensation caused by brain injury is similar to driving without full control of the wheel. Somebody else is steering as you try desperately to wrest back control. Only problem is you have forgotten where you are going.

Steve Thompson's generation – my generation – were not protected enough to avoid early onset dementia and CTE. I do wonder what the future holds. I can only hope the changes made as professionalism evolved will be enough to avoid what is happening to Steve, Alix, Michael and others.

I wish someone yelled "stop" at Leinster training during the early 2000s. What we were doing was considered best practice when, in fact, those double sessions were insanity. We knew we were irrevocably damaging our bodies. We didn't know it would lead to what Steve is experiencing. Not to our generation. Not so soon.

But here we are.

I presume the legal argument for the 70-plus compensation cases in the UK will focus on what the authorities did or did not do with the medical knowledge they possessed. Discovering how much information, if any, was hidden from the players will sway the overall judgement. Coaches and administrators will be called to answer tough questions. Their testimony will make for deeply unpleasant reading but this process can help to future proof our game.

If it even gets that far. In 2014 the NFL settled with its players for $1 billion because legal advice suggested a greater financial hit in court.

Rugby and science must focus on protecting the twenty-something hookers and "kamikaze" flankers (the nickname given to Tom Curry and Sam Underhill by their teammates). Otherwise, another ex-player will be struggling to write this same article in 2030.


We can save multiple lives by introducing preseason brain scans. Boxing, both amateur and professional, has been doing this for decades.

I would take issue with the argument of reducing contact in training. I hear what Dr Willie Stewart – a leading expert in TBI – is saying: in 2011 American Football brought in a once a week rule for "full contact padded practices."

But this is not the hill rugby fights concussion on. The conditioning coaches have already crossed that bridge. The double sessions of a Tuesday were shelved by the 2010s. A spike in all sorts of injuries, increased games and education around concussion saw to that.

I struggle to see the value of further reducing body to body sessions and I'll tell you why: tackling, being tackled, rucking and scrummaging are skills a player must constantly hone.

Essential preparation
Tackle technique was an essential part of my preparation for the Saturday afternoons that I man-marked Manu Tuilagi and Mathieu Bastareaud. I was giving up 20kg to these men. If I didn't perform extra tackle drills on similarly shaped bodies not only would I become a speed bump, I would be putting myself in harm's way with no muscle memory developed to avoid spilling my own blood on the grass.

I know the scientists will disagree but limited, specific contact sessions remain essential preparation.

Same goes for the work John Fogarty does with the Ireland scrum before locking horns with Mako Vunipola or the next gigantic frontrow that comes looking for Andrew Porter and Cian Healy.

I remember the match in Italy that effectively ended Fogarty's career. And, for a period, changed his life. I remember him fumbling around for the ball before attempting a dive pass to Isa Nacewa that made him look like he was on the other team. We would laugh about it now if the consequences were not so frightening.


In the months that followed Fogs suffered, literally, in the dark. We still existed in a culture of silence. No rugby player wants to be seen as soft. So we got up and attempted to play on.

That was professional rugby in its first iteration. Thankfully that attitude was fading, the dinosaurs all but extinct, when I retired in 2015.

I do remember when the penny dropped. Every evening in Ireland camp the next day's itinerary would be slid under the bedroom door. The next morning we gathered for a mandatory presentation by an independent doctor who explained how concussive impacts alter a person's brain function. There was a video that showed Rob Kearney trying to get back to his feet and into the defensive line. Delayed neural pathways had Rob stumbling about like Charlie Chaplin. We would laugh about it now if the consequences were not so frightening.

The mood in the room was far from comical. Most people remembered another piece of paper that would be slid under our doors in previous years. All it said was: "Get In The Line."

No matter what was wrong, you got up and made your tackle.

Our job was extremely dangerous. We knew this. Nobody was getting up and walking away from a six figure salary. Nobody was yelling "stop." Not that it would have made any difference.

Zero tolerance needed for head shots
I hope John Kirwan continues to reflect on his recent words about abandoning the red card sanction for a head shot. The former All Black has a huge global reach and zero tolerance for this very act is one way the current generation can improve their chances of avoiding TBI, dementia and CTE.


Concussion does not appear to be an immediate problem in the professional game. The game's reliance on the Head Injury Assessment may eventually rubbish these words but, right now, it is the amateur player that needs additional protection.

Crucial to this is showing children how to give and receive contact. It is just as important as teaching a six-year-old to scoop the sliotar onto their hurley.

Grassroots coaching, to my mind, is rugby's salvation.

But for the past few days I have barely considered the future of the game. Nor am I concerned as a father of three children, two of whom are already swinging away for Ranelagh Gaels. To be honest, what is happening to Steve Thompson has me worried about my own health because the damage has already been done.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/former-players-launch-concussion-claim-against-rugby-authorities-1.4439507

Former players launch concussion claim against rugby authorities
More players have joined including Adam Hughes who, at 30, is the youngest of the group

Andy Bull

Lawyers representing former rugby union players have taken a decisive step in their legal action against the game's authorities, issuing a pre-action letter of claim to World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and Welsh Rugby Union.

Rylands Law, which announced the move on Thursday, revealed that two more players, Adam Hughes, a former Welsh under-20 international, and Neil Spence, a former England under-21 international, have joined the claim made by players over the impact of head injuries suffered during their careers.

Four more players have also joined the action, but wish to remain anonymous at this point, which brings the total number involved in the test case to nine. The firm are already representing over 100 former rugby players aged in their 20s to 50s, and say that 30 more have contacted them since Thompson, Popham and Lipman's involvement in the case was revealed by The Guardian last week.

Hughes, only 30, is the youngest player involved in the action so far. He has been diagnosed with "having brain injuries and post-concussion symptoms", and has been advised that he is on a similar medical trajectory to Popham, Lipman, Thompson, and Spence, who have all been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable CTE. His testimony is a chilling counter to the argument that the game has become safer in the last decade.


Hughes played as a centre for the Dragons, Bristol, and the Exeter Chiefs between 2010 and 2018. He was forced to retire at the age of 28 after a particularly severe concussion. "It was just one head knock too many. I was finding it more and more difficult to recover from each and every bang to the head," Hughes says. He reports being knocked out eight times in his career. "At first it was the bigger concussions where I was completely knocked out that took me ages to recover from then over the time even the smaller ones started to have an impact. For the sake of my health, I had to bring it to a halt.


"For me, I think the biggest issue around concussions was attitude," Hughes says. "It was often treated like a weakness if you don't dust yourself down and carry on. So naturally you see many players expert at just getting up and carrying on, regardless of how they feel. Ultimately, it's their job, and no player wants to lose their job."

Hughes admits that he knew the risks involved, but argues that "if there were opportunities to make the game safer, and I believe there were, then it was incumbent on those with power to do so. The game still has a very long way to go in terms of education about concussion."

Spence, 44, who played in the back row for Leicester, Gloucester and Rotherham Titans, says "I've lost count of the number of concussions and head injuries I have had through my career. In fact, I used to judge how well I had played based on how fuzzy-headed I felt at the end of a game." He reports suffering from "mood swings, anxiety attacks, depression and anger issues".

The pre-action letters of claim set out the broad allegations upon which the claims are based. It states that that governing bodies had a duty "to take such steps and to devise and implement such rules and regulations as were required in order to remove, reduce or minimize the risks of permanent brain damage as a consequence of the known and foreseeable risk of concussive and sub-concussive injuries." The governing bodies have a maximum of three months from the date of acknowledgment of the Letter of Claim to provide their initial responses.

Shortly after the pre-action letter of claim was launched on Thursday the governing bodies released a join statement which read: "World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and Welsh Rugby Union can confirm they have received a letter of claim from solicitors representing certain players and will now take time to consider its contents. We have been deeply saddened to hear the brave personal accounts from former players. We will continue to use medical evidence and research to keep evolving our approach. As with any potential legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics of the letter."– Guardian

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/matt-williams-players-must-be-educated-to-take-responsibility-for-their-own-brain-health-1.4439795

Matt Williams: Players must be educated to take responsibility for their own brain health
The will to keep getting selected or prolonging careers can lead players to hiding symptoms
19/12/20

Matt Williams



Leinster's Dominic Ryan is tackled by Michael Lipman (right) and Tim Davidson of the Melbourne Rebels during a pre-season friendly at Donnybrook in August 2011. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
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The heartbreaking stories of former England internationals Michael Lipman and Steve Thompson, who are dealing with the horrors caused by brain trauma, were deeply confronting. It is impossible not to be moved by their situation.
In recent years World Rugby has taken some credible steps in dealing with concussion. Despite these efforts, everyone linked with the game knows that many more significant changes to the laws and concussion management for player safety are essential.
In Ireland's recent match against Scotland, anyone who witnessed Andrew Porter, with Iain Henderson bound to his back, running at full pace and smashing into Stuart Hogg to clear him out, will know the game must change. Hogg was bent over a tackled Irish player, "jackling" for the ball. It is an extremely dangerous and vulnerable position. Under the law it was a legal act and Porter and Henderson are blameless. How Hogg stood up uninjured after that collision was miraculous.
That sickening type of collision happens multiple times in every game. World Rugby must use great wisdom but they must act swiftly to change the law to make the tackle contest safe.
In the 1980s rugby went through a similar period of crisis regarding player safety. Many players across the globe suffered serious spinal injuries during scrums. With law changes and player education, scrums are now very safe.
Caution to change the laws needs to be balanced with haste because rugby must ensure that the present generation of players do not walk down the same path as Lipman and Thompson.
Despite the current narrative being pushed across the globe, the responsibility of how rugby reached this crisis point does not rest solely on the shoulders of the law makers.
There is an aspect to these terrible stories in this concussion crisis that belongs to the individuals.
The men who are now dealing with brain trauma were mature adults when they were suffering repeated concussions. Some were senior internationals. Why did they not stop playing? Why did they continue playing into their mid-30s with repeated concussions?
Where was their personal responsibility for their own health in their playing days?
Michael Lipman was born in England and brought up in Australia. I knew Michael during his schoolboy days at St Joseph's College in Sydney and we met during his playing days in England where he played for Bath and England, before returning to play Super Rugby in Melbourne.
Michael is a very good man.
In July 2012, he did an interview for the Sydney Morning Herald with journalist Stathi Paxinos. The words from that interview now make very uncomfortable reading.
"The openside breakaway [flanker] estimates he has had more than 30 cases (of concussion) throughout his career.
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"I don't regret it at all. It was my decision to keep going,'' says Lipman. "A couple of professors said you should retire but I always thought there was a lot more rugby in me and I didn't really think anything of it at the time.
"I probably should have [told Bath about the medical advice] but at the same time I wanted to keep playing and I wanted another contract,'' he says. "If you let them know that you have got this advice, then they'll never give you a contract. So you've got to keep it to yourself, because at the end of the day I want to play rugby and to do that you've got to hold things in, and that was all my decision.
"When I had medicals [for the Rebels] I told them I've had a few knocks here and there but never really told them the true extent of what it was, but you've got to do that to get a contract.''
"I really should have hung up the boots, but Melbourne were really great and gave me the opportunity.
"I was like, 'I'm a rugby player, I'm going to keep playing because that's what I do'. I loved the game and just wanted to keep doing it and I thought that was the right decision."
I am very surprised that these words never found their way into the current conversation regarding brain trauma in rugby.
From this interview, it is obvious, that Michael was aware of his repeated concussions during his playing days.
I suspect those words do not fit into the current politically accepted narrative that all the blame for head trauma sits entirely with the game and those who were playing are blameless for their circumstance.
Last year I spoke to a former All Black, who told me he had multiple concussions and he hid many from the medical staff.
I have heard that story from so many players. They hid their concussions and the symptoms from family, coaches and medical staff because they wanted to keep being selected to play.
To admit to being concussed was to miss selection, or worse to miss a contract.
There is no argument that World Rugby must change many laws and a multitude of concussion protocols but I am convinced that current and future players must be better educated so that the individual has the power and knowledge to make the correct decisions surrounding their brain health than past generations.
What I am sure of is that no player must ever again be allowed to reach the level of damage that Thompson, Lipman and others appear to have been allowed to reach.
Every individual player from the junior clubs, through the AIL, up to the highest levels of the international game have a responsibility to understand the risks and the great joys of playing. Then base their decisions on medical science, not newspaper articles. None of which, including this one, are scientific papers on concussion.
Which brings us to the baseless conspiracy myth that is attempting to drive fear across the rugby community. This false narrative attempts to connect the failings in American NFL, brought to life with dramatic terror in the movie "Concussion" and link these horrific practices directly to rugby.
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a degenerative brain disease that was found during post mortem dissections of NFL players' brains. CTE was found in these past players who were exposed to horrific coaching practices that caused devastating brain injuries.
Those NFL players were coached to drive their heads, straight into the chest of their rushing opponent or to tackle, by aiming their heads at the runner's knees. They did this repeatedly from the ages of 10 or 12 until they retired in their 30s. At every practice and game, day after day, week after week, year after year, they drove their heads, with full force, into the middle of their opponent's chest or at their moving knees.
These horrific coaching concepts, in no way shape or form, have even the slightest resemblance to any coaching methods in rugby. Any attempt to reference rugby and what occurred in the NFL's past and the movie "Concussion" needs to be called out for what they are – baseless, scaremongering lies.
CTE is real. Concussions and brain injury have happened in rugby far too often, but I have never witnessed or heard of any rugby coach telling his or her players to use their head as a weapon on contact. Rugby educates players to do the exact opposite and place your head behind the ball carrier, not in front.
Brains in rugby are injured by other factors besides physical trauma.
I played with three men who now have serious cognitive damage. All have a long history of alcohol and substance abuse.
We know that excessive abuse of alcohol or drugs can cause damage to the brain and accelerate cognitive decline. A medical research study in Winnipeg Canada and published in the National Library of Medicine found that a staggering 35 per cent of the general population over 40 years of age had CTE at autopsy. This is commonly associated with drug and alcohol abuse. The authors say: "We conclude that CTE-like findings are not confined to professional athletes; the risk factors of head injury and substance abuse are similar in the routine population."
If there was ever a sentence that tells you that the narrative on this incredibly important topic has been injected with zealots' fear and we, the rugby community, have not been provided with exact medical science, that's it.
A leading Australian sports lawyer told me that any legal action regarding brain trauma and rugby will examine, with forensic detail, players' past habits with alcohol and substances.
There are many rugby players, past and present, whose relationship with alcohol and substances has not been healthy for their brain. That is the harsh reality.
The English Rugby League great James Graham has pledged his brain to science to aid in concussion research. When asked if he was worried if his playing days would have an affect on his brain in later life, he answered, "It's my brain. I will do with it what I want."
It is essential that today's and tomorrow's players are educated to do not only what they want with their brains, but to do what is right.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/owen-doyle-world-rugby-needs-to-end-dangerous-clean-outs-and-quickly-1.4443151

The ruck law states – 'joining a ruck' – arriving players must be on their feet; they may join alongside but not in front of the hindmost player; they must bind onto a team-mate or opponent.
"Joining" indicates that a controlled entry is required.
And, by the way, the definition of 'binding' is: grasping another player firmly between the shoulders and the hips with the whole arm in contact from hand to shoulder. Furthermore, players must try and stay on their feet.
All of that is the complete polar opposite of what is happening. Rugby is flagrantly abusing its own laws, not to mention tinkering around with the very defined World Rugby protocols.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/noise-around-johnny-sexton-only-muddies-the-concussion-waters-further-1.4482427

Noise around Johnny Sexton only muddies the concussion waters further
Johnny Watterson: Medics have player's best interests at heart but all have a different view



Concussion did not have its best week ever defining itself to the great unwashed. Dr Barry O'Driscoll fearlessly stepped forward to again assert that the return to play protocols, which Johnny Sexton is currently undergoing, are a construct with no scientific basis.
World Rugby might disagree but Dr O'Driscoll believes they are not modelled on previous medical investigations. There are no papers showing six days is enough time to expedite a head injury. The protocols are designed to assist and accelerate players' return to the field of play. As Dr O'Driscoll explained: it's commercial, stupid.
That came after the confusing part of the week, when Dr Jean-François Chermann, a neurologist who stood down Sexton for 12 weeks during the time he was playing with Racing in 2014, re-entered the orbit of his former patient. He waded in with what appeared to be a spasm of unguarded honesty combined with what Sexton himself believed to be a breach of doctor patient confidentiality.
"I think Johnny Sexton has had around 30 concussions across his entire career. It's true that it's enormous," Dr Chermann among other things, claimed on French radio. He later retracted what he said.
The problem is, he can't unsay his spoken words and people are left to believe either his first statement or his later retraction. They are asked to question why a specialist would say such a thing unless he believed in its veracity, all to the backdrop of a perplexed Sexton categorically stating its lack of veracity.
Unsolicited
Now everyone is again flapping around the room with their hair on fire. It is not hard to see why. French neurosurgeon, Dr Jean Chazal, also popped up. What a week. He also decided to make a contribution, again unsolicited by Sexton.
"He leaves the field with difficulty, with his legs spread which is another sign of ataxia. So, something happened neurologically. It's undeniable," Dr Chazal told French online platform Rugby Rama. The presumption is he watched Ireland's match against Wales on television and did not examine Sexton.
•   Johnny Sexton questions timing of intervention by French doctors
•   Dr Barry O'Driscoll believes rugby's concussion protocols not fit for purpose
•   Johnny Sexton 'saddened and shocked' over concussion comments from French medics
"If Sexton plays on Sunday, it's sad for him. This is what really inspires me: sadness," added Dr Chazal.
Sexton said he has been here before and sees it all as lose, lose for him, his concerned mother and his upset wife. It's easy to understand the disappointment and frustration at his rugby having a negative knock-on effect to his wider family.
Referring to Dr Chermann's comments, Sexton also spoke about how improper it was that a doctor "I have seen many years ago now felt it was appropriate to come out and say those things".
According to the Irish Medical Organisation: "The safeguarding of patient confidentiality is a fundamental principle of medical ethics which dates back to the Hippocratic Oath. Confidentiality is both a patient's right and a doctor's duty."
What the French doctors said before retraction also challenges how the medical staff in Leinster and Ireland have been dealing with the issue. People listen to and read their words and instinctively accept their accuracy and expertise. By being French they have some skin in the game as Ireland play France on Sunday but less so than Irish doctors working from inside the Irish team.
There is an irony there. Almost every rugby player who talks about injury in Ireland, every player who answers questions about a hamstring, or knee or ankle or cheek fracture or concussion, never fails to acknowledge the professionalism and care of the medical staff. Sexton reiterated that point on Wednesday.
"I trust the medical guys here. They look after us incredibly well," he said.
But no less so because Sexton is talking about it again, it is bewildering and disconcerting. There is no question that all the doctors have the care of Sexton at heart. Dr O'Driscoll does, the French doctors do and the Irish team medical staff do. But they are expressing that concern in different ways, some with bald candour that we are unused to hearing, others with hushed professionalism. More importantly, what to do next is not in agreement.
30 days
Sexton hopes to play against France seven days after the head injury. In comparison a less respected cousin, Olympic boxing, rules that if a boxer suffers a knockout as a result of a blow to the head or if the bout is stopped by the referee, the boxer may not take part in boxing or sparring for at least 30 days. Being stopped by the referee in boxing is equivalent to being taken from the pitch in rugby to undergo a HIA.
If there is a loss of consciousness for less than one minute, the boxer may not take part in boxing or sparring for at least three months and if there is a loss of consciousness for more than one minute, the boxer may not take part in boxing or sparring for six months or longer.
From the outside looking in rugby, like boxing, is not risk-averse and the participants understand that. While the danger is measured and not reckless, the point of safety is clearly in dispute. To hear doctors express such unfiltered views is eye opening, while it continues to add to Sexton's distress and wider confusion.
As Dr O'Driscoll explained, there is no test available for anxiety, depression or dementia from CTE that may only become known in 10 or 20 years' time. That's the nub of the matter. That and the agreed conceit of return to play protocols.

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https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/progressive-rugby-calls-for-significant-changes-to-how-game-is-played-1.4487917

'Progressive Rugby' calls for significant changes to how game is played
Profound changes called for to protect the rugby-playing community from brain injury
about 5 hours ago
Johnny Watterson



Ireland and Lions prop Paul Wallace is one of a number of signatories to a letter from a group called 'Progressive Rugby,' who are calling for significant changes to the way the game is played and organised on a global basis.
The thrust of the letter to the chairman of World Rugby, Bill Beaumont, calls for more profound changes to take place to protect the rugby-playing community from brain injury, claiming it to be greatest threat to the game.
Beaumont wrote an open letter on December 17th last outlining how World Rugby holds player welfare as its number one priority at all levels after recent accounts of former players and their experiences.
In the tackle area, the group call for a review of "double teaming" players, where ball carriers are simultaneously hit by two players from the opposing side, the upper level of tackle height as well as a timely release of ball following the tackle. The group are also calling for limiting substitutes for injury only.
The current rule allows for tactical substitutions, where more than half the team are permitted to come on fresh, usually in the second half causing an imbalance between tired and fresh players.
"The problem you have is you play rugby and you get fatigued," said Professor John Fairclough. "The analogy is if you have Joe Calzaghe in a boxing match with Bernard Hopkins and after eight rounds you bring in Roy Jones (to fight Calzaghe). You have disproportionate physical strength. That's when you have a problem."
Former England players, Simon Shaw, Steve Thompson, Kyran Bracken and James Haskell, current Welsh backrow Josh Navidi and former Welsh international Alix Popham, former Canadian international Jamie Cudmore and former Scotland international Rory Lamont have also signed up to the changes.
"Of course, they are," said Haskell when asked if modern players are more at risk. "Look at the size they are. I think they are massively at risk. When I was playing, we were doing things out of fear not out of science. It's a dangerous game, a contact sport. It is a game of who controls violence. You might not like it."
Life on the line
Former Clermont player, Cudmore, spoke of "the club putting my life on the line" and cited "puking in Twickenham while getting stitched up and asked to go back on the field."
Included too were medics Dr Barry O'Driscoll, Professors Fairclough and Bill Ribbans and well as British Labour Party MP Chris Bryant, chair of the all-party parliamentary group for acquired brain injury.
In returning to play following a head injury, the group are also seeking to extend the minimum number of days before a player is back on the pitch competing to at least three weeks as well as mandatory comprehensive screening as in other sports after recurrent concussions.
Post retirement player welfare is also addressed and the body advise that a concussion fund be established by World Rugby, that ownership of a player passport should be developed and a more empathetic relationship with insurers should be agreed.
Much attention has recently fallen on England's 43-year-old former hooker Steve Thompson, who played in every game of the 2003 World Cup but cannot remember the final, which England won. Thompson has been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Progressive Rugby have requested to speak with senior figures in World Rugby to discuss how they can work together to control an issue "that threatens the very future of our game". They have also asked for an independent "broad church" of experts to appraise current research, risks, and protocols in the game.

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https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/eye-tracking-technology-trialled-in-bid-to-diagnose-concussion-1.4567663

The latest eye-tracking technology using virtual reality (VR) for the detection and treatment of concussion made its debut in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman 2021 last weekend.

Recent studies have suggested that oculomotor function – eye movement – alters at the time of a concussion or shortly afterwards. World Rugby, New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia have partnered with NeuroFlex to run an in-match trial and the technology was used across all five games in which the quintet of New Zealand teams beat their Australian counterparts over the weekend, and will continue as a trial for the remainder of the tournament.

A statement by World Rugby said: "The technology is being used alongside the current Head Injury Assessment (HIA) to objectively determine whether NeuroFlex could further enhance the HIA process, currently operating at 90 per cent accuracy in elite competitions.

"This innovative way to identify altered oculomotor function and head movement will also be used within the six-stage graduated return-to-play process to monitor players returning from injury and protect their health.

"NeuroFlex is an objective test that could further improve rugby's approach to brain health, supporting doctors to make the right decision. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that oculomotor functions are altered at the time of, or shortly after a concussion and the ground-breaking trial aims to verify the test's diagnostic accuracy.

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https://www.rugbyworld.com/news/siobhan-cattigan-tragedy-questions-must-be-answered-144894

Back-rower Cattigan won 19 caps for Scotland before she died last November at the age of just 26. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Neil and Morven Cattigan describe how their daughter's mental health deteriorated after she suffered brain injuries while training/playing and ultimately led to her death.