Tim Stimpson: “I want rugby players protected because I love the game so much.”
Interview by Julian Oliver for Progressive Rugby
Former England full-back Tim Stimpson says those governing rugby union need to act fast to protect its reputation and sustainability due to a growing body of evidence on concussion.
The Premiership and European title winner’s comments come off the back of recent publicity on two research studies into the effect of rugby on the brains of elite players.
The Drake Rugby Biomarker Study shows that 23% of elite adult rugby players had abnormalities in brain structure, and half showed an unexpected change in brain volume.
A further study by the University of South Wales Study revealed links between contact and reduced blood flow to brain. They study claimed this was not a result of ‘big hits,’ or concussions, but a number of blows each brain took, directly or indirectly, over a prolonged period.
“The risks of future legal action and of more players getting injured is there, so the game needs to act now because the body of evidence is already there,” Tim, a leading member of Progressive Rugby, said.
“Rugby needs to be safer. Players who have suffered a concussion need to be stood down until there's proof that it's safe for them to come back. They're just human, their brains are soft and bleed like everybody else.
“Current protocols allow a player to return to play in just six days. When I played it was a mandatory three weeks and I don't see any evidence anywhere that says it's safe for players to come back in six days. The first thing we should be doing is making sure that the return to play protocol is fit for purpose.
“We also need to put methods in place that restrict the number of times players get bangs on the head, especially in training. So, we can make massive changes reducing contact training like they have done in NFL and like we're talking about in football, about not heading the football too many times.
“Harlequins set a great example. Last year they brought in some great technology and protection, and they've massively reduced physical contact the player goes through in the training week. It’s meant on a weekend they were really sharp and I think he's got a lot to do with them winning the Premiership.
“When I was a player, you accepted that you put your body through the mill. You accepted you're going have sore shoulders, knees and ankles. But no one understood at the time that knocking our heads around was going to cause brain damage or early onset dementia.
“Now that the evidence is there, it’s crucial we do something about it.”
Tim’s attitude is interesting because his experience, particularly with a fantastically successfully Leicester Tigers, was of multiple brutally physical training sessions a week.
He said: “I would probably make 100 tackles in training to try and make five or 10 tackles in a match. As well as all the rucking and mauling.
“I certainly played with concussion. I would lose central vision but play on just using my peripheral vision. Other times when I lost my short-term memory but haven't gone off the field. I'd ask my team mates to help me play the game and get through the concussion.
“I loved that body on the line attitude and looking after your mates, but I look back now and wonder of the potential damage that we could have caused ourselves.
“I’ve got involved in Progressive Rugby because I realised that some of my teammates have got brain damage that probably caused by the collisions they've endured in a rugby career.
“We have got to be thinking about the wives and the families who were going to get left behind prematurely. If these guys and girls are going to be suffering long term catastrophic consequences from playing the game that we love.”
And Tim says while the evidence has evolved and the knowledge of concussion improved, a player’s gladiatorial attitude toward the game remains in their DNA.
“A player will stay on the pitch because he wants to play for his or her club or country. They don't want to let their mates down,” Tim said.
“Decisions have to be taken out of the player's or club’s hands because the clubs are always under pressure to play its strongest team whether its fighting to avoid relegation, fighting to win a trophy or just entertaining crowds to keep the gates up.
“The elite set the tone for any sport. Their behaviours, alongside the evidence, will then spread throughout the whole community game. Seeing a team leave out a key player for a major game to protect them is a powerful statement.”
And if these changes are adopted, he believes the sport he loves can go from strength to strength.
“My kids play rugby. I'm not in any way wanting to stop them play because rugby's given me the life, the confidence, the coping skills and the mates that I love.
“Rugby is an amazing sport because it teaches you about physical responsibility and dependency and enables you to cope with other stresses that come along in life. I want the game to survive in the same way I want the players to survive.
“Progressive Rugby are working with World Rugby and trying to keep the game safe. We are all rugby people. It's not a question of anyone in group wanting to stop rugby or kill the game. We want to protect the game because we all love it so much.”
'Some of my teammates have got brain damage that probably caused by the collisions they've endured in a rugby career.'
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