207 Rugby Players Named In Concussion Hearing

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I have mixed feelings on this subject as I don't think this is right. You chose to play the sport and only a complete moron would not understand the consequences.

This diagram was from an article published 5 years ago where they said in the 2015/16 season one player was concussed every 1.3 matches. If they believe that stat then they are even bigger fools as it is more like how many per game and not every other game. I blame padded protective clothing as players think they are super man except they are forgetting that they have no padding around their heads. If there is no pain or after affects from players due to padding no wonder these stats are only coming out now. I couldn't walk properly for a few days sometimes as we had no protection besides a gum guard. We played in excess of 30-35 matches per season without the "friendly" games included which were always tougher than the league games.

The sport of rugby went professional after the 1995 World Cup and this is basically the first batch of players being professional and amateur who have been named suffering with brain disorders. I am certain there are many more around the world suffering who don't even realise it was from playing the sport. Many will never come forward however as like myself we knew the risks and what is the point. This is like a boxer suing the sport for brain damage so just make it safer and move on.

These were the players of my era that played the sport when I did and I did not recognise any names who were ex team mates which is a positive. This is why I say there will be more as this was by no means just a European problem with one or two names coming from the other countries around the world. Wales have 76 players listed 34 professional and 42 amateur so what about New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. These countries played a harder more physical brand of the sport and there is only one New Zealander amongst the names. If the sport wants to be open and honest then this figure will be in 4 figures and not 207 only.

For some players they just joke about it and there is no mention of taking the sport to court even though they know it has had consequences on their lives. Back when I played serious rugby between 1989 and 1994 just before the professional era started the main concern was to avoid a neck injury and concussions were just expected as being part of the game. They weren't taken seriously and every team I played in had a few animal type players who threw their body around and why the number of 207 players is very small in my opinion.

The animal type players who were called committed and were seen as a coaches dream back then and normal players saw as nuts or not normal. Where someone thought charging into another group of players head first would end well is beyond me. The self preservation idea always was in my head and just was smarter about how I did things with constant thinking taking place even though you are in a zone of wanting to win.

I have read some stories which sounds funny, but are not with players out doing a training run or cycle and cannot find their way home. New Zealand have ex player team meet ups and they joke they need name tags as they have forgotten who they played with. Dementia is an obvious side effect and what is sad is these ex players are all so young. One player a few years ago was medically asked to retire due to the early start of dementia. The family knew as dad would put something in the oven to cook and forget about it causing panic. Some have the start of Motor Neurons Disease which is probably as bad as things become because you basically are left on life support within 18 months of being diagnosed and die shortly afterwards.

The 207 names that have been put forward are now seeing if they can all be bundled together and not individually which would make more sense and why they are having a procedural hearing. I honestly don't know what anyone expects to happen from this as my feeling is you played the sport knowing the risks.

Certain positions you would think were prone to more concussions than others. but looking at the names published it is widespread covering almost every position on the field. The forwards is where I played and head bashing was often hard to avoid and why you needed to have some brain cells to understand that this cannot be good for you long term.

In the 5 years I played senior rugby at a high level I was lucky I suppose as I only broke my ankle and ribs but more importantly was concussed only a handful of times that I can recall. It is not always the serious knocks you count though as it is all the small ones that add up over time. I retired in 1994 at the age of 25 which is very young and has to be seen as a stroke of luck because the professional era was very tempting and I was good enough to have been signed up. Work forced me to make a decision as the risks of injury were too great and they had seen the state of what I looked like every Monday morning with stitches being the norm.