Minor rugby reforms won’t protect players from suffering the same life-changing brain damage I did.
This article is from www.inews.co.uk/
Adam Hughes: I don’t want aspiring professionals to be sitting there in 15 years’ time, wondering what the future holds for them because they weren’t given protection.
It’s fair to say rugby union has been on a bit of a rollercoaster for the last 18 months. Between Covid, South Africa boss Rassie Erasmus and his public slaying of officials and the issue that we all continue to discuss, concussion, you would be excused for thinking the World Rugby hierarchy are having a tough time of it right now. But the controversy of head injuries in rugby is a problem that could have been handled a long time ago.
As an ex-professional rugby player who suffered head injuries almost from the very start of my 10-year career, with CT Scans showing evidence of white matter changes on my brain and diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome in 2018 (symptoms for those affected can range from various forms of chronic pain to dizziness), the more I now learn about what could and should have been done to protect players like myself from putting ourselves at unnecessary risk, the more disillusioned I get with the sport’s current response.
Research into head injuries in rugby date back to the 1970s, yet here we are in 2021 and the only answer World Rugby has is that it is “committed” to further research. A lot of scientists and medical professionals have taken it upon themselves to conduct this research in the last few years, and we are starting to see the results of these studies come through. One of which is from the University of South Wales, which concluded that rugby players are experiencing reduced blood flow to the brain after just one season of competition. This is terrifying when you think some players play for 20 plus years between junior, youth and senior rugby.
Since retiring in 2018, I have worked with the researchers at the University of South Wales for their study into post-concussive symptoms in 2019 and I can say first-hand the expertise and equipment they possess is incredible. We need to be taking their results seriously and implementing change off the back of it.
While different organisations might be researching different aspects of the long-term damage caused to the brain from contact sports like rugby, they are all pointing in the same direction. That direction is that a lot more needs to be done to protect current and future players from life-changing injuries to the brain. I don’t want players currently dreaming of being professionals sitting there in 15 years’ time, as many of us are today, wondering what the future holds for them and their families because they weren’t given protection by the authorities.
Unfortunately, it seems the authorities haven’t grasped the most important aspect of change, and that is education. Tinkering around with laws is comparable to building a dam from sand. As concussion is an “invisible injury”, many find it difficult to fully understand what it is, and how it affects players. This is why it is so important that players like myself utilise the focus from the media that we currently have to inform and educate. I have seen a huge change in mentality towards concussions from rugby fans since myself and a group of players went public about our injuries in December 2020, but there is a very long way to go.
Protocols for players who suffer head injuries are starting to improve, and players are starting to take more responsibility over their own brain health, but these really are baby steps compared to what should be happening. In the boxing ring, if you get knocked out there is a mandatory 90-day break from any contact, yet in rugby you could be back on the field the following Saturday afternoon. Why is that? Is this not one of the easiest protocols to bring in?
We have the opportunity right now to carve a successful future for contact sports like rugby, but only if those with the power to make the changes and educate do so with the utmost importance.
Adam Hughes is director of Adam Hughes Wealth Management Ltd and an ex-Professional Rugby player who retired in 2018 after suffering post-concussion syndrome.