Could playing elite rugby in Wales be bad for your health?
This story is written by Progressive Rugby
To say there’s a lot going on in Welsh rugby at the moment is rather the understatement.
The community game seems to be struggling, with fixtures seemingly called off in vast swathes, the school’s game appears to be shrinking, elite players are still waiting for contracts, others are understandably deciding to cut and run, while the WRU remains in turmoil and is in desperate needs of re-structuring to retain credability.
Many believe that an open sore - long festering beneath the surface - has had the plaster ripped off and exposed by the dip in fortunes of the national side which struggled badly to impress during the Six Nations.
The stress etched on some international players’ faces – Ken Owens being a key example – was very real, and their state of mind has been echoed by others on social media who were struggling to pay their bills and were starting to suffer mentally because of the lack of uncertainty the contract situation created.
While the Wales v England strike was narrowly averted, it’s become clear pretty quickly that any agreement was far from perfect and for Progressive Rugby, the biggest concern is the necessary slashing of squad numbers to meet the financial pressure the game finds itself under.
In the elite game, one of the crucial steps that needs to be taken to protect players short and long-term health ,is reducing how many times they take the field and the associated training load that brings each week.
Core components of our player welfare plan for the elite game are below and the complete version can be found here: Progressive Rugby - A Non-Profit Rugby Union Lobby Group
Elite game:
· 21-day minimum stand down after diagnosed concussion
· 25-game maximum per season
· Eight weeks protected rest period per annum
The reason these are key is because it’s become increasingly clear and supported by science that the repetitive sub-concussions (rattling of the brain without symptoms) that causes the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
That’s why a player can go a whole career without being knocked unconscious and still develop the condition. All Black prop Carl Hayman, who has only one recorded concussion, is a good example.
But, with Welsh regions having to slash squads to around 35 players, it’s difficult to see how the opposite won’t happen.
Surely the options are depressingly limited to overplaying your top players and over-relying on your academy players – perhaps before they are truly ready to step up.
For coaches in a results based industry this is hard enough, but with other member teams of the URC on a far better footing it’s a nightmare. It will take exceptional discipline to manage the welfare of their squad while also being a crucial necessity.
It’s a perilous situation and one with no easy answer.
But while Wales, and other nations, continue to struggle with finances, we have to ensure that the cost to the players is not their future health.
“It’s a perilous situation and one with no easy answer.”