Rugby determined to prove it’s safe to play after ‘sad and disturbing week’ of dementia revelations

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney said it has been “a sad and disturbing week” for the sport following the revelations that several former players are suffering from dementia.

Rugby union has fallen under the microscope once again for how players are treated following the news that 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson has been diagnosed with the debilitating brain condition at the age of just 42. The former England hooker is one of eight retired professionals who have formed a ‘test group’ that will file claims against World Rugby and the relevant rugby unions for “failure to protect (the claimants) from the risks caused by concussions”.

Thompson was diagnosed with early onset of dementia and probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) following a 13-year professional career between 1998 and 2011, when a recurrence of a serious neck injury forced his second and permanent retirement. He has revealed that while watching a re-run of the 2003 World Cup final during lockdown, he had no memory of playing in the match 17 years ago in Sydney. Ex-England teammate Michael Lipman and former Wales forward Alix Popham have also joined the ‘test group’ after receiving similar diagnoses, with the former revealing this week that he had been knocked out 30 times during his career with Bristol and Bath as well as stints in Australia.

Although the lawsuits have not yet been received by the RFU, the nation’s governing body has long been braced for such a scenario given the sport’s history with concussion. There have been several law changes to try and improve player safety over the last decade, such as the introduction of the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) for suspected concussions and return to play protocols for any confirmed cases, but the fact that a player who retired within the last decade has been diagnosed with the condition still came as a shock.

"It's a very serious matter, a very serious moment for us; we all love this game," said Twickenham boss Sweeney. "This has been a very challenging week.

READ MORE: Steve Thompson reveals dementia diagnosis

"First and foremost in these legalistic times this is very much a human story. And we recognise what's happening here, we recognise the difficulties the families are going through and then bringing these stories into the public. We applaud them for doing that, but also in the context of their motivation which is to improve the game and make it better and safer for future generations.

"We would certainly share that and take it to heart, and it's impossible not to be moved by it. It's not a time to hide, not a time to go missing; it's really a time to be open and transparent. We've got to make sure we're making the necessary changes, to ensure we've got the safest possible game across all the different levels.”

The people who will need the most convincing are the parents of young children who would normally consider allowing their kids to take up the game, taking them to training and volunteering to help run the sport at grassroots level, but who now may be put off by playing a sport that is demonstrating a clear link to a greater risk of concussion-related issues.

“Of course we are worried about reputational risk,” added Sweeney. “We love this game. I’ve spent a lot of time on the road this year, going around community clubs to see the great work being done. That’s why I say we have to be extremely transparent and fact-based in terms of what we are talking about, what are the real risks and benefits of playing rugby.

“The benefits are camaraderie and life-long friends and lessons learned and all the rest of it. It would be disingenuous to say we’re not worried about reputational risk, but we certainly believe it is manageable.

“We believe that everything is being done and will continue to be done to make sure it is a safe sport for kids to take up. We are dealing with the white-heat emotion at the moment of what is a really difficult human story that we are hearing about. It is not a time now to go quiet, it is the time now to engage and talk even more. We have got to be seen to have the best interests of the game and the best interests of the players of the game at heart here and that we are a caring sport and taking all the precautions we can.”

The lawsuits follow a similar legal action taken by former American football players, which resulted in the NFL paying out more than $800m in compensation for not taking the necessary precautions in protecting players from the long-term effect of concussion.

But Sweeney believes the action that rugby has taken to address traumatic head injuries to players - which is regarded as industry leading given the recent spotlight that has been placed on football to start taking concussions seriously - will hopefully prevent rugby suffering from the same horror stories that were witnessed in the NFL.

Former New England Patriots player Junior Seau took his own life in 2012 and studies on his brain revealed he had been suffering from CTE, which can cause bouts of dementia, depression and rage. Another former Patriots star, Aaron Hernandez, was found to be suffering extensively from CTE after taking his own life while in prison after being found convicted of murder.

CTE has been found in a number of deceased NFL players, but Sweeny pointed to the the measures already introduced as hope that rugby will not suffer similar episodes in the future.

“The science is not black and white. There is no scientific proof of the causal link between concussion and CTE, that is not a proven thing, and research is ongoing into that and more research will probably be done into that,” he said.

“There are differences between American football and rugby union, and the measures that are put in place and have been in place for quite some time now are held up as being best in class when it comes to concussion identification, monitoring and management, and we feel confident with that. That’s confident, but that’s not to say complacent – we can never do enough in this field and we have got to make sure we have all the right information and all the right research in place to really understand the topic as best as we can.”

Sweeney is also confident that the RFU will avoid any financially crippling payouts. “I’m not concerned about that. I’ve got no reason to believe we wouldn’t be covered (by insurance), but we’re not going into that detailed discussion at this stage until we see the nature of what is being submitted.”

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