It’s probably safe to say that if you suffered a substantial blow to the head playing rugby 30 years ago, it would have been treated by an ice pack and rounded off with a ‘walk it off’ attitude. In fact, it wouldn’t have even been 10 years when that kind of treatment was acceptable for a bad head injury.
Nowadays, a substantial head injury comes with it a lengthy stint on the sideline as well as seeing just about every specialist under the sun. A new era of rugby was recognised in October 2014 when a joint venture monitoring concussions more extensively between the RFU, RPA and Premiership Rugby was implemented. With the implementation of this protocol, player welfare appears now to be in safe hands. Or does it?
George North suffered not one, but two clear knocks to his head during the 2015 Six Nations opener between England and Wales and went on to play the full 80 minutes. As fate would have it, North would suffer another bout of concussion against Wasps at the end of March and go on to miss the remainder of the season. However despite these potentially career ending setbacks, North has recently been declared fit to appear in this year’s Rugby World Cup.
In total, North suffered four concussions in just under 5 months of rugby which, when you put that into context with a sport such as boxing, speaks volumes about how misguided World Rugby and the Wales Rugby Football Union really are when dealing with these types of injury. In relation to concussions, boxing protocol declares that loss of consciousness for under one minute results in a mandatory 90 day rest period and loss of consciousness over a minute sees the boxer taken away from the ring for 180 days.
In the case of George North, who suffered loss of consciousness on more than one occasion during a five month period, huge errors of judgement were made in allowing him to return to rugby so quickly having spent just 3 weeks out of the game after his double loss of consciousness against England in February. Boxing has these rules set-out with the aid of scientific testing to ensure that players don’t suffer any adverse effects so why isn’t Rugby following in it’s footsteps?
Ex member of the IRB medical committee Barry O’Driscoll resigned from his post in 2013 following the introduction of the Pitch-Side-Concussion-Assessment (PSCA) which was a telling moment in the decline of concussion protocol in rugby. Plans to reduce rest periods from three weeks to one and the option to return players to the pitch five minutes after sustaining a concussion following an examination proved to be the last straw for O’Driscoll and his reservations appear to be telling in the status of current rugby affairs.
Speaking about the issue just after the North incident in February, O’Driscoll suggested that it’s not acceptable that players can return to the field after passing a so-called “concussion test” which is what was almost definitely a factor in North’s “double concussion”.
“It was the both of them [the incidents] together – we can’t be 100% but the second head injury almost certainly happened because of the first. Watching George after he had returned, his brain activity was not right and that was reflected when his body went completely flaccid,”
He also said that they know so very little about the region that it’s not safe to conduct these ‘experiments’ like these concussion tests, especially with how physical the game has become.
“When I played rugby everyone was two stone lighter and crucially, players looked for the gaps so the tackles were made by outstretched arms. Now, heavier players look for the contact and run straight at opponents and keep going until a gap eventually comes,” he said.
“We know very little about the brain for certain and we have a huge amount to learn but at the moment these players are being experimented on.”
It’s important to note that since the agreement between the RFU, RPA and Premiership Rugby was made, we’ve seen an advancement in the way players are dealt with when suffering concussions. But it’s also important to note that progress shouldn’t stop there.
It’s up to the rugby governing bodies to continue to strive for a level where the safety of the players can be guaranteed and the rugby field can earn its place as a safe and secure sport among the sporting world.