Head injuries, brain damage and dementia continue to cast a dark and troublesome backdrop for rugby. Former Dragons centre Adam Hughes is the latest to have joined the legal challenge to the authorities for negligence. The games’ rulers claim the game has never been safer. But Harri Morgan says the sport’s defence only applies to the professional level and for the grass roots, it’s a whole new and worrying ball game.
The righteous beer. A glorious swig.
An act many of you reading this will have engaged in – but never classified. The term was introduced to me via The Socially Distant Sports Bar Podcast, a rare fairway in a year of rough and bunkers.
The nature and contents of the vessel is variable and largely irrelevant – can, bottle, plastic cup – fizzy, frothy, cold or not so cold.
The essence of the righteous beer is in the blood, sweat and tears that proceed the indulgence.
In the corner of a changing room after the grind, even the hippest of hipsters can taste the pleasure in a mouthful of what they would normally classify as ‘crappy lager’.
When I think of the return to playing community rugby, and the void created by its absence, the post match beer is what I long for, as much as, if not more than any of the on-field elements.
That’s a sad indictment of the individual, perhaps. We all find our serenity somewhere.
‘A side of me is lost for ever’: two more players on their brain injuries as they join the legal action against rugby union authorities. By @mdmaylwin https://t.co/bKIKtPADYH
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) December 18, 2020
But who knows when the masses of community rugby players in Wales will next be afforded that righteous sip? For some the premature end to last season might have brought forward last orders.
For those of us who will go again, we will return to a game different to the one we finished with back in the spring.
I’m not talking about getting changed in the car, or socially distant tackling – a skill which I have tried and failed to perfect long before friendly separation was cool.
The divergence from days gone might not be at the forefront of discussion in training or matches, but the news of the connection between rugby-derived concussions and early onset dementia, changes the ball game.
Much of the coverage has centred on how this will force an acceleration in the shift of norms within the professional game.
However, if the ensuing legal case were to establish a duty of care from the organising union to the player, then is there any justification for differentiating between a player for whom the game is work and those for whom participation is a leisure activity?
The volume and severity of collisions at the highest level eclipse those the average Dai might be exposed to whilst charging about on the local playing field.
That said, in many ways the amateur clubs face a far more complex challenge in creating an environment where they can be comfortable with the controls available to protect players.
If we consider some of the measures implemented in the past five years with the objective of decreasing player exposure to concussion, and enhancing management of players post-concussion, then it is reasonable to conclude the effectiveness of such measures depends on resources.
Think of the use of red cards as a tool for changing habitual tackling behaviour.
How many of these sanctions are dependent on the TMO either to identify the foul play, or as a necessary reference point, before giving whoever their marching orders.
The casual referee might have a sideline stacked with people willing to tell them what they’ve missed, but the reality is they can only referee what they see.
Inevitably, they will miss those tackles, which for most of the sport’s history wouldn’t have even been identified as high, let alone red card worthy.
Even if the eagle-eyed official spots the indiscretion, it is unlikely to occur at a level of frequency whereby sufficient training time will be attributed to adjusting tackle mechanics on a Tuesday night.
The notion that a red card, and a ‘lower next time’ message from the coach, is sufficient to change tackling habits is in itself negligent.
Technology is not only of benefit when it comes to capturing incidents of foul play. Video replays also aid the identification of players who need to be removed from the field subsequent to a head knock.
This is particularly so when the collision doesn’t leave the recipient floored or with any obvious signs that we associate with concussion.
Until it becomes normalised for a player to declare it in their own best interests to leave the field – which is a cultural shift that needs to be accelerated – there will continue to be a dependency in the community game on the referee alone and a few officials on the sidelines serving as advocates for the player’s health.
The reality is most teams in the community game don’t have sufficient medical support to dedicate someone to look out for such incidents.
We may also observe medical professionals becoming less willing to lend a hand at their local club for fear of the unknown when it comes to litigation.
A local GP who was happy to deal with a broken ankle or split lip, may well be less so if he’s dealing with brain injuries and the prospect of multi-million pound legal cases.
Knocking heads.
All Blacks captain Sam Cane admits he’s concerned about his future health after a series of concussions.
World Rugby faces lawsuit from ex-players with dementia and other problemshttps://t.co/uBf2WYLvSF pic.twitter.com/PdIKvss1e6
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 18, 2020
The availability of medical resource is not only important on a Saturday afternoon, but also the return to play lifecycle.
In the pro game, players will interact with, and benefit from the advice and advocacy of medical professionals on an almost daily basis.
This will not be the case for your average club player. Protocols exist, but there is likely too much discretion in the hands of an individual with a conflict of interest – the player.
As a suggestion, clubs should be responsible for reporting concussions to the governing body, with the player unable to be named on the team sheet until cleared by a medical practitioner. It could be administered like a suspension.
Returning to play, and swigging the righteous beer is an exciting prospect.
But the community game must be proactive in addressing the challenges when it comes to player safety.
It can’t rely on a copy and paste from what is delivered at the elite level.
This is fundamental to ensuring that the experience of community rugby continues to be an attractive prospect for future generations.