Not Good Enough

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This afternoon England and Sale Sharks flanker Tom Curry was knocked out whilst tackling another player. We know he was knocked out by the way he went down without trying to brace himself and then lay motionless. What happened next is pure madness as he left the field after regaining consciousness for a Head Impact Assessment test. He was subsequently cleared and allowed back on the field of play.

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Already knocked out and on the way down hitting the ground head first with his arms by his side. Surely the match officials cannot ignore this and should be demanding he remains off the field permananently.

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From my understanding if you are knocked the protocol is you are then monitored for the next 14 days giving your brain and body time to recover. There is no HIA test required immediately after the brain injury because you are not allowed back on the field of play.

There are many people who should have stopped this besides the medical team but also the manager who watches he game live and also has a tv monitor which he can view. Why is this being allowed to happen and this is not a good look for the game and player welfare.

Yesterdays failings raise the question where is the independent doctor on hand or is that an expense that is now being avoided. Rugby clubs have their own medical teams but they are not the ones handling the HIA assessments or telling their team a player cannot play.

Something had to have been said because eventually Curry was take off at half time after having played the final 20 minutes of the first half. You do start to wonder where the common sense is going to come from as players need to look out for their own safety and welfare. You would know if you have been knocked out and aware of what is happening within the game of ex players and current players suffering from CTE.

In Australia a 20 year old Manly junior NRL player died of heat stroke 4 years ago and his brain was examined with CTE being very much prominent. His playing career started when he was 5 so his body had 15 years playing experience. We are only uncovering the details now and it is not just your adult playing career, but also when your brain is developing. Not every knock is a concussion either and it could be a whip lash effect with no head contact involved at all.

It is a fallacy to believe medical staff should only be looking at head contact injuries because the body hits are so hard these days that they are like having multiple mini car crashes every game. Yesterday in the other Premiership Rugby games in England two mouth guards detected impacts and all these do is record data.

Sadly there is nothing that can be done to make the game safer with the exception players play less games each season. This will never happen as clubs would need a bigger squad adding to the pay roll. The rugby season is close to 11 months long and I do fear for the players welfare long term. This is going to end badly for a high percentage of players.

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