Rugby has changed its rules over the past decade to reduce head injuries and prevent the aftermath of years of hitting, but the paradigm shift comes too late for many. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the game saw faster and bigger players without the protection of the rules. Once pulled off, this generation has paid consequences that don’t just affect the elite. Following the complaint by 225 professional players to the English and Welsh FAs in November, alongside World Rugby – the sport’s international governing body – a group of 55 amateurs launched another parallel lawsuit in November with the same argument: the governance of rugby was negligent in it to protect them from neurological damage throughout their careers.
The amateur complaint adds to the seriousness of a problem that no longer affects just the elite, but the grassroots of a sport that has more than 150,000 licenses in England alone. The conclusion of his medical reports is that the consequences are the same for men and women, professionals and amateurs. While the 225-pro trial only included male players, the new trial includes former women internationals, senior youth and the family of a player who was diagnosed with CTE after his death. They are the acronym for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain degeneration caused by repeated head injuries. American football was a pioneer in this disease, with hundreds of cases in retired players and a million-dollar lawsuit against the NFL.
Players of both methods report premature symptoms of dementia, epilepsy or Parkinson’s, which they attribute to repeating the effects during their time as players. The risk of concussion is rampant in rugby, with protocols currently requiring a player to be evaluated by medical staff after being hit to the head. The big problem is that the player is not removed from the game. Before these protocols existed, it was common: no player wanted to leave the game. The alarm was triggered by Steve Thompson, who in 2020 no longer remembered that he had won the world championship with England in 2003. If it was already happening in the elite, the light and stenographers, the risk of these amnesias multiplied endless fields without television.
Neurological symptoms also lead to chronic depression, assault, violent outbursts, incontinence, alcohol or drug addiction, and in some cases, failed suicide attempts. Players’ argument is that the regulations did not give them the necessary rest between concussions or ensure they were properly screened before returning to the field. The accusation also blames rugby governance for ignoring medical advice, which at the time warned of neurological risks.
Rugby has changed its regulations significantly in recent years to address the problem. High duels will be severely punished, as will any blow to the head. The goal is to protect players in vulnerable situations, such as when they jump to catch a ball or lie on the turf while their teammates bring the oval into play. The number of red cards has multiplied, even in games at the highest level. And the colleges check every border action by video. The problem with previous generations is that they didn’t have this shield.
British newspaper The Guardian details the case of Alex Abbey, a 48-year-old gamer who had to quit his job as a teacher at 31 after suffering sudden memory loss. This high-profile Englishman played around 80 games a season between the ages of 13 and 18, many against adults, and he says he’s suffered 18 concussions: after each one, he kept playing.
The lawsuit calls for changes to protect player health. He speaks of mandatorily limiting contact during training, mapping concussions in a kind of neurological passport and setting a minimum period of 28 days without a game if a player is diagnosed with one.
In a joint statement, the three defendants defended rugby as “a sport that offers many long-term health and well-being benefits” and underlined their “grief” at the health issues reflected. Based on “the latest available scientific evidence and the guidance of independent experts,” they affirm that their sport is “leading” in the prevention, treatment and detection of blows to the head to make the game “accessible, inclusive, and safe.” “.
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