{"id":26443,"date":"2022-09-17T14:50:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-17T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/rugby-players-with-worrying-brain-scans-should-be-forced-to-retire"},"modified":"2022-09-17T15:04:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T15:04:48","slug":"rugby-players-with-worrying-brain-scans-should-be-forced-to-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/rugby-players-with-worrying-brain-scans-should-be-forced-to-retire","title":{"rendered":"Rugby players with worrying brain scans \u2018should be forced to retire\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Players showing signs of serious brain injury should be forced to retire, former Wales forward Alix Popham says.<\/p>\n

Popham, who retired in 2011, was diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2019.<\/p>\n

He says he regularly speaks to current players about their own conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had them in my kitchen, they\u2019ve had [brain] scans and they aren\u2019t great,\u201d Popham, 42, told the Sports Desk Podcast.<\/p>\n

Popham added: \u201cI\u2019m not a doctor but if it was me I would take it [the decision of continuing to play] from them and it shouldn\u2019t be their decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers representing more than 185 former rugby union players, including Popham, have begun legal proceedings against governing bodies the Rugby Football Union, the Welsh Rugby Union and World Rugby over brain damage suffered by their clients.<\/p>\n

The group of players, represented by law firm Rylands Legal, are suing for negligence, claiming that playing the sport caused brain damage.<\/p>\n

Popham and former England World Cup winner Steve Thompson were among six other former players who first started the process of a claim in December 2020. When the legal action was launched, the sport\u2019s authorities stressed they \u201ccare deeply about all our players\u201d and \u201cnever stand still when it comes to welfare\u201d.<\/p>\n

They have also highlighted their safeguarding strategies designed \u201cto prevent, identify and manage head injuries\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the week the domestic professional rugby union season started, Popham also told BBC Sport about his ongoing conversations with ex-players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite tough sometimes when I have phone calls from players I used to play with and against and they\u2019re in a really dark place,\u201d he added on the podcast. \u201cThere have been a few where we\u2019ve had to get professional help to their house on a Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the real coalface that we\u2019re dealing with with some of these players. If I help one person, I know we have helped – but there\u2019s a lot more out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why we are doing this. We need to draw a line in the sand, realise the mistakes that were made and move forward, because otherwise the sport is going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Rugby defended its record on concussion and pointed to new protocols reacting to ongoing research, including this season\u2019s roll-out of smart mouthguards that can measure the frequency and nature of head contact and accelerations, in matches and training.<\/p>\n

Players do not regularly have brain scans, but World Rugby\u2019s chief medical officer Dr Eanna Falvey said if a player had \u201cdecreasing neurological function\u201d doctors would be \u201cobliged to investigate\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf you have somebody who has defined evidence of decreasing neurological function they would not be continuing to play. Absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falvey said: \u201cAm I convinced that we are doing as much as we can right now? I absolutely am.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the data that we\u2019ve got, we\u2019re acting on all the information that we have. Not only that, we\u2019re creating our own data. We\u2019re the only sport that has done this type of work with instrumented mouthguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have offered instrumented mouthguards to all the teams in the Premiership, all the teams in the [women\u2019s top tier] AP15. We\u2019ll be doing the same in the Currie Cup and the Farah Palmer Cup next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are leading the way in this area so I\u2019m absolutely sure we are doing as much as we can. We will continue to improve, we will continue to work on this and as the information becomes available we will act on it because we don\u2019t stand still, I\u2019m absolutely sure of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Falvey said he would not rule out changes to the laws of rugby in order to protect players at all levels. Asked whether limiting the weight of players was an option, he said: \u201cCertainly. We\u2019ve seen that done quite successfully in the North Island in New Zealand because of some of the differences in children developing at a faster rate than others in their own age group.<\/p>\n

\u201cRealistically, everything should be on the table here \u2014 anything we can do in a manner that makes it safer to play the game and more attractive to play the game that allows people to get the benefit of being out there with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. Players showing signs of serious brain injury should be forced to retire, former Wales forward Alix Popham says. Popham, who retired in 2011, was diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2019. He says he regularly speaks to current players about their own conditions. \u201cI\u2019ve had them in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-26443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nRugby players with worrying brain scans \u2018should be forced to retire\u2019 - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Players showing signs of serious brain injury should be forced to retire, former Wales forward Alix Popham says. 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