Alix Popham traveled the world as a rugby player. He played 33 times for Wales and competed at two Rugby World Cups, and even got to meet Nelson Mandela before a match in South Africa.Or so hes told.He cant actually remember.Popham is
Austin Corbett Jersey 43 and his rugby career is, in his words, all a blur.My neuropsychologist described it, he said, as when I was playing in those games and in that part of my life, my brain was so inflamed through the contact I was doing continuously over a 10/11-month season, its like I was taking photos but with no camera.Popham has been diagnosed with early onset dementia and is one of a growing number of rugby players in their 30s and 40s all of whom have brain disorders such as motor neuron disease and epilepsy to have against governing bodies of the sport he still loves. They contend the rugby authorities failed to take reasonable action to protect the players from repeated blows to the head during their careers.The case has similarities with a in 2013, at a likely cost of more than $1 billion, after thousands of former American football players who developed dementia or other concu sion-related health problems claimed they were caused by the very on-field violence that fueled the games rise to popularity and profit.Its against this backdrop that the Rugby World Cup is taking place in France from Sept. 8.END OF AN ERA?I think this World Cup is the end of rugby as we know it, Prof. Willie Stewart, a neuropathologist and former adviser to governing body World Rugby, told The A sociated Pre s. I think the current form of rugby union as it is played will change straight after the World Cup.Rugby is nearly three decades into the profe sional era, which has brought about huge changes to the game.Big busine s; bigger and bigger players; monstrous collisions at a volume far higher than the NFL. The sight of a big, heavy forward powering into prone, defensele s players at a breakdown can make viewers shudder.Hence the increasing concerns about the health of players, from the elite level to the gra sroots, and especially the effect repeated knocks to the head can have on the brain.Concu sions or, in other words, brain injuries are commonplace, roughly one per game according to annual injury audits commi sioned in English rugby.Rugbys awarene s, even if they wont say it publicly, is that there's a significant problem with brain health in former players, said Stewart, an honorary profe sor at the University of Glasgow."Looking at it back in the 70s and 80s, training a couple of evenings a week if were seeing a problem from then, rugby must secretly or even publicly be really worried about 1995 (profe sional
Sheldon Richardson Jersey era) onwards when suddenly players were being exposed to contacts all week and having a form of rugby based on collision rather than avoidance. Thats going to be stocking up a whole world of problems which are just beginning to emerge.NFL EXPERIENCEThe NFL has learned le sons from the costly 2013 lawsuit that sparked so much introspection, and continues to take more steps to ensure the health and safety of players.The league has tried to eliminate hits to the head by implementing penalties, fines and suspensions. This year, the NFL drastically changed the kickoff rule to reduce returns because the play led to 19 concu sions in 2022. In April, the first quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce concu sions was approved for use by the NFL and NFL Players' A sociation, while a position-specific helmet already has been used by offensive and defensive linemen.Any time we can change the protocols to make it safer for our players, were going to do that, NFL Commi sioner Roger Goodell said at the Super Bowl.Rugby, which doesn't use hard helmets or thick pads, has made many changes, too. The has been lowered in community rugby to below the base of the sternum in an effort to eliminate head hits, and World Rugby is not ruling out experimenting with it in the elite game. The governing body has i sued guidance on weekly practice loads such as a maximum of 15 minutes of full-contact training, though it's up to teams to enforce it and isnt as strict as in the NFL where its overseen by an independent players union.In theory, there are stricter punishments for high tackles and breakdown cleanouts targeting the head. And rugby is taking its in-game and return-to-play concu sion protocols seriously, claiming the sport is world-leading and adopts an evidence-based approach. One recent innovation to detect concu sions is the use of a special mouth guard that Player welfare is World Rugbys No. 1 priority and it should be the No. 1 priority of every rugby organization, World Rugby says. Everyone involved in the organization has a duty of care in relation to the players and every step should be taken to mitigate against potential risk.COMPETING INTERESTSCritics are skeptical, however, about the sports safety crusade, arguing the authorities are conflicted by the advent of profe sionalism and pointing to flaws in
Phillip Gaines Jersey their protocols and regulations.Former profe sionals are paying a heavy price for rugby's abject failure to rigorously investigate concu sion's long-term risks, said author and campaigning journalist Sam Peters, whose soon-to-be-published book Concu sed examines rugby's relationship between busine s and player welfare.How, critics say, can Wales prop Tomas Francis, after clashing heads with his own teammate in a match last year, pa s a head injury a se sment despite appearing unsteady on his feet and leaning on a post for support signs that should have led to his immediate removal? Just this month, a judicial panel overturned a red card for England captain for a high, no-arms tackle to a Wales players head in a World Cup warmup. Farrell was later handed a ban following an appeal by World Rugby but the whole affair did little to inspire confidence in the disciplinary proce s around head injuries.Theres always competing interests when it comes to sports and profe sional a sociations, said Chris Nowinski, a co-founder of the Concu sion Legacy Foundation, a Boston-based not-for-profit organization that supports athletes and others affected by brain injuries. Whats best for busine s is the guys playing (hundreds of) days a year and never taking a day off for brain injuries, but thats not fair to the athletes.They're going to have to make some sort of sacrifices if they want rugby to succeed long term.Nowinski was a former American football player and WWE wrestler who now, with a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience, is a co-author of brain research projects and has helped doctors at Boston University acquire the brains of
Seth DeValve Jersey former NFL players. So far, 345 of the 376 brains of NFL players studied at the university's brain bank have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated head trauma, according to the latest figures released in February.Stewarts research team conducted a study of 412 former Scotland rugby players and more than 1,200 individuals from the general population. It showed the chances of the former rugby players being diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease were 2.67 times higher.In 2021, a study funded by the nonprofit Drake Foundation looked at biomarkers in 44 current elite players from 2017-19. Results showed 23% of them had abnormalities in their brain structure.For Nowinski, the evidence is mounting and the clock is ticking for rugby authorities to acknowledge the link between repeated head impacts and CTE, and to make more changes so the sport is safer.He'd like to see fewer or even no hits in practice, for head hits to be more aggre sively penalized, and for children to not be exposed to sports where they could get CTE including rugby before at least the age of 14.We could be as close as five years away from diagnosing CTE in living people, Nowinski said in a video call. If we throw a bunch of 18-year-olds through a scanner and find out 30% of them already have CTE, would you sign up your son or daughter for that game? The answer is probably not.HEAD FOR CHANGEPopham has three daughters and wont be pushing them to play rugby, given
Odell Beckham Jr. Jersey what he has learned. Away from the lawsuit that has reached its first preliminary hearing in the courts, he is making it his mi sion as a co-founder of the charity and through his lobby group, to raise awarene s about the impact of head trauma in sports and to demand better protection for players.That means, in Pophams view, reducing the number of games per season, keeping players out for 28 days after a head injury and for players to have a brain scan every season to a se s their brain health. He wants a concu sion to be called what it is a traumatic brain injury.The conversation were having in rugby was happening in boxing 100 years ago, he said. The knowledge has been there, it just didnt get pa sed down the food chain. And its shocking really.Thats my mi sion, educating people on this so the game does survive. But unfortunately, the powers-that-be have their heads in the sand.___Steve Douglas is at ___AP rugby: in this topic
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