Concussion

[East Kent Saint]

I have read several articles about this and agree that it is a problem in football and rugby . It would seem that a full scale monitoring program is required to try to pinpoint the cause. Heading , contact with the head for football plus inheriting a condition for football .

Rugby seems to be contact : tackle , scrum , ruck etc plus training all week so with bulked up players in constant contact situations who can’t last 80 mins these days . Their authorities seem seem poor , claiming no direct link etc in the same way as tobacco , asbestos industries did. 
in football they need to work out if current players are in the same danger as former players but Rugby need to have a fundamental rethink . They didn’t have subs in our day !

[Alanh]

The lawsuit heading for England Rugby from several 2005 World Cup winners and the issues that are detailed by the OP could mean the end of rugby in it's current form.  I have a couple of younger relatives who loved rugby during their schooldays, but had to give it up on medical grounds because of repeated concussions before they were 19 years old.  If that sort of thing is happening around the country then the game won't survive.

[East Kent Saint]

Chris Sutton castigating FA/PFA today , after Jeff Astle was said to have died due to constant heading by the coroner the FA PFA instigated an investigation but won't/refuse/can't release the findings .Sutton's Dad suffered with dementia.

[adrian lord]

Rugby is doomed. I cannot see how the game can be sanitised without turning it into netball. 

[Alanh]

18 hours ago, adrian lord said:

Rugby is doomed. I cannot see how the game can be sanitised without turning it into netball. 

You get rid of the scrums and rucks which is where the majority of the head impacts occur.  The problem for Union is that effectively makes it Rugby League.

[East Kent Saint]

In football a clash of heads could mean both players being subbed on refs orders rather than players staying on as they “ passed the test” .

[Sheaf Saint]

10 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

In football a clash of heads could mean both players being subbed on refs orders rather than players staying on as they “ passed the test” .

I can already see the objections though. Imagine a situation where let's say Ings challenges for a header and has to be subbed off even though the club physio thinks he's OK. Then 10 mins later we get a penalty, but our 1st choice pen taker has been subbed off, and the player who takes it misses.

I loosely agree with the reasoning, but it could get very messy.

[East Kent Saint]

We have seen this season players play on with a bandage leaking blood so clubs cannot be left to make the judgement. Concussion symptoms can take a while to show so a quick test then a return to play does not give enough protection to the injured player. By taking away the decision from members of the club’s physio dept then they will be protected , especially if they have to take 2 weeks off as well.

can’t be worse than VAR surely!

[adrian lord]

On 18/12/2020 at 13:19, Alanh said:

You get rid of the scrums and rucks which is where the majority of the head impacts occur.  The problem for Union is that effectively makes it Rugby League.

yep. 

[East Kent Saint]

Jan Vertonghen explaining about the after effects of his concussion . He played on last season for 8 months at Spurs with headaches and dizzyness as his contract was ending and he wanted a new club . He was slagged of by the Spurs fans on social media etc for his out of touch performances and didn't play much at the end IIRC .

[East Kent Saint]

Last night Adams got kicked in the back of his head and didn’t look too well afterwards on the MOTD footage . In instances like this VAR should be used to have the player subbed regardless and given treatment & not be allowed to take any further part. This would be counted as an allowed extra sub . The decision would not involve the club .

[StDunko]

1 hour ago, East Kent Saint said:

Last night Adams got kicked in the back of his head and didn’t look too well afterwards on the MOTD footage . In instances like this VAR should be used to have the player subbed regardless and given treatment & not be allowed to take any further part. This would be counted as an allowed extra sub . The decision would not involve the club .

Sounds like a good idea to me.  Take the decision out of the hands of the clubs.

[Sheaf Saint]

2 hours ago, East Kent Saint said:

Last night Adams got kicked in the back of his head and didn’t look too well afterwards on the MOTD footage . In instances like this VAR should be used to have the player subbed regardless and given treatment & not be allowed to take any further part. This would be counted as an allowed extra sub . The decision would not involve the club .

That looked really nasty. I realise that it wasn't intentional from Dawson, but even so he still should have got at least a yellow card for it. He took a wild swing for the ball when he knew there was another player's head very close by. It was reckless and could have caused a very serious injury.

I'm astounded that VAR didn't take a look at it, because the ref on the field obviously missed it completely.

[Danny R]

On 18/12/2020 at 13:19, Alanh said:

You get rid of the scrums and rucks which is where the majority of the head impacts occur.  The problem for Union is that effectively makes it 

Good news for us RL fans. However, there are league players involved too in the case. I think scrums / rucks are part but the hits/players in both codes are getting too big. 

[CougarSaint]

As an RL fan I agree. But I do remember a protocol in RL that meant a concussed player was sidelined for 2 weeks. I'm sure that happened with Darren Appleby for Cougars back in 1995 ish so not sure why that got relaxed?