It's a hard knock life: Concussion damage finally tackled

In 1823, William Web Ellis decided to pick up a ball during a high school football game and run with it, thus creating the now globally famous game of rugby. A sport known for its big hits, speed, and power, it’s no wonder that one in five rugby union players suffered a concussion during a single season.

With a large amount of famous retired rugby players now opening up about their mental health problems and the medical issues that have suffered since playing rugby, it is only reasonable that there’s been a really big push in the past 10 years to protect the players and try preventing these horrible issues. One big cause of these issues is the effects from concussions.

Even though it has been well known for decades the severe harmful effects of concussions, and how easily they are obtained in rugby, World Rugby only passed it into law in 2017 that a player must come off for a mandatory 10-minute Head Injury Assessment (HIA) if a concussion is even the least bit suspected. World Rugby produced a new slogan, ‘If in doubt, sit it out’ and have made sure that slogan is plastered over every single club, local and professional, all over the world but only time will tell how effective these measures are.

All-Blacks player suffers a concussion during a game

Tony Malley, coach, and bar manager from Hamilton Rugby Club, talks about his experiences playing compared to his experience coaching. He said: “When I played rugby, a concussion to the boys was like a badge of honour. We were only in our late teens, early 20s, we weren’t sensible enough to be thinking about the long term effects.

“Unless we were literally knocked out cold, being sent off for a concussion was definitely seen as a cop out, like it was being used as easy way out. As I’ve grown up and had kids of my own, I’ve realised how important and how harmful concussions can be and I’m so glad that the sort of attitude we had back in the day is no longer popular and that there’s a lot more serious mindset towards it.

“I coach youth rugby and we are so careful when it comes to concussions now. Every single tackle in training and in the game is watched carefully by us and if there’s even the slightest notion that the head was hit, we bring them off the pitch to get checked by our medic then sent to the hospital.”

Australian rugby player captured mid-pass

It’s relieving to hear that there has been a big move towards protecting the young people in the sport, especially given the worrying statistics from the Drake Foundation surrounding concussions. Even with symptomless concussions, every hit increases the risk of some deadly and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, CTE, and Alzheimer’s.

Studies from the National Institute of Health show that the recovery time is the most crucial, if a player doesn’t sit out for the appropriate amount of time, the damage done if another knock is sustained is unbelievable.

No one wants rugby to be known as a deadly sport, least of all the players’ parents and loved ones. Concussions are being approached carefully now, which is a step in the right direction, so long may it continue.