Editor’s Note: Today’s article is the personal story of former Rugby Premiership player Chris Callaway, who is the Chairman of the Saxons Sevens, which runs both men and women’s squads. Chris has a passion for Seven’s, Womens Rugby, Club Development and Injury Prevention.



Concussions in rugby have finally started to attract the level of attention they deserve from both the media and players, and yet both the IRB and the RFU have reacted in their typical way by virtually ignoring the issue and rather than take preventative measures, they brought in an on field solution that gives seriously injured players an opportunity to go back on to the field.

There is no more better example that the George Smith incident during the Lions Tour in 2013. Smith took such a heavy blow to the head that he actually needing carrying from the field. During that process one side of his body was in spasm and he had no control over it. Leading former IRB doctor Barry O’Driscoll has stated that in this case it was very clear that George wasn’t suffering from concussion but something more sinister that has been described as Gross Motor Movement Deficiency, which was caused by internal bleeding into the brain. And yet 5 minutes later George Smith was allowed to retake the field and continue playing.

The article in the Waisale Times writes about the Zurich statement regarding the IRB’s agreed Return To Play Guidelines.

“I refer you in particular to section 4 of the Zurich statement, to which, as you know, the IRB is party:

The cornerstone of concussion management is physical and cognitive rest until symptoms resolve and then a graded program of exertion prior to medical clearance and RTP.

Furthermore, as Section 4.2, Return to Play Guidelines (RTP), of the Zurich Statement states (and again which The IRB has agreed to):

The RTP strategy must (….) follow the same basic management principles; namely, full clinical and cognitive recovery before consideration of RTP.

As the George Smith episode has demonstrated, the powers that be in rugby are clearly trivialising concussions, and children and adults alike are at risk of serious injury or worse. To give a man who has clearly just been knocked out a 5 minute test to see if he can stand up straight without falling over four times not only flies in the face of the Zürich Statement but is also an extraordinarily inappropriate manner in which to care for our players.

I revert to the boxing analogy I have used in the past; If a boxer cannot defend himself after ten seconds he has to have a brain scan before he comes back. Here we are giving players five whole minutes to try to stay standing and answer a few basic memory questions!”

There is now a recognized disorder called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is a degenerative brain disease that is caused by repeated blows to the head.

In this article Barry explains further http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/odriscoll-calls-for-change-in-attitudes-to-head-injuries-248022.html

The NFL who recently reached a settlement with former players has now recognized this. You can see the video and full article here.

To summarize the article:

“The NFL has reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims, pay for medical exams and underwrite research.

A federal judge announced the agreement Thursday after months of court-ordered mediation. It came just days before the start of the 2013 season. More than 4,500 former athletes — some suffering from dementia, depression or Alzheimer’s that they blamed on blows to the head — had sued the league, accusing it of concealing the dangers of concussions and rushing injured players back onto the field while glorifying and profiting from the kind of bone-jarring hits that make for spectacular highlight-reel footage.

The NFL long has denied any wrongdoing and insisted that safety always has been a top priority. But the NFL said Thursday that Commissioner Roger Goodell told pro football’s lawyers to “do the right thing for the game and the men who played it.”

Nic Berry the former Wasps scrum half retired because of this http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24765650

And there has finally been recognition that there has actually been a death caused concussion mismanagement http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24554550

Unfortunately it is a tragic ending that sufferers and their families face and it isn’t confined to just Rugby or NFL, for those who remember the tragic story of former World Wrestling Champion from the WWE Chris Benoit, who tragically killed his wife and children before committing suicide. Reports suggest that he was suffering from dementia caused by multiple concussions, read the full article here.

I personally have long had concerns about the affects of concussion having been somebody that has suffered from multiple concussions and probably can still attest to having certain symptoms that could be attributed to CTE. And it is in writing this story I am drawn into reflecting upon my concussion history.

The first was age the age of 10, I was a young brave wicket keeper, and I used to stand right up against the wickets. The batsman that day was Ed Smith; yes the same Ed Smith who is former England cricket player. Ed went to smash the ball on a swinging cut and in his follow through the bat collided with my head. I don’t remember too much more other than I never enjoyed cricket afterwards and stopped playing at the first opportunity.

The second was at 11 when I was playing goalkeeper, again brave and probably reckless, I dived at the foot of a striker who was starting his swing on his shot, I collected a full blow to the temple. Again I don’t remember much of what happened, I did play goalkeeper again two years later but never had the same enthusiasm for it as I did when I was younger.

The third was at 15, playing rugby and I remember everything that happened. I was playing winger and I was in line to be the starting 1st team winger for the 3rd year at Tonbridge School, the fly half threw the ball behind the backs of the centres by mistake and the ball cam bouncing towards me, as I went down to pick the ball up so did the fly half. The next thing I remember is that I woke up in the sick bay 5 hours later, although everybody involved would tell you I walked there unaided but I have no recollection of it.

After my first ever game for Wasps at Under 19s I suffered from symptoms of concussion following a massive blow I took to the head right at the kick off of the game. I was lifted to catch the ball and the opposition came in and took my feet out whilst I was in the air. I guess because I got up straight away and belted the guy, I was never properly assessed at the time, and I guess I didn’t really recognize it at the time but I have remembered the week-long series of headaches more than I would care to.

Then there was my final game for Sevenoaks at the age of 28, I remember vaguely taking a knee to the head in a tackle, followed by the next breakdown where again I believe I took a second knee to the head as they scored. I should have come off the field at that point but stupidly I convinced the physios and the coaches that I was fine to continue. At the resulting kick off one of our players tapped the ball back and as I dropped to collect it I took another blow to the head. The physios didn’t think twice and pulled me straight off. I didn’t play for 3 months after that, and I was off work for the first week. I took reflection on whether I wanted to play the game again and at what level I wanted to be involved.

I did go back to playing, and I did so at Richmond, but 18 months later my playing career came to an end. I picked and went close to the line and keeping my head down I ended up colliding with the defenders knee and I knocked myself straight out. From what I understand there were a couple of phases that went on whilst I lay at the bottom of the ruck and there was evidence that I may have taken another accidental boot to the face whilst I was there. By the time I was fully conscious 20 minutes had passed. I took weeks to recover and that ended my playing career as it had then affected work more than was acceptable and I couldn’t afford those risks anymore.

As I moved in to coaching at Richmond I still felt that I could have contributed on the field and during the first two years I walked on to the field 6 times and was knocked unconscious on 5 of those occasions. I have had one further concussion away from the pitch. My reality these days is that I cannot take a blow to the head, I suffer from headaches that are on the verge of crippling when they do happen, I have suffered with bouts of uncontrollable depression that are now safely under control.

I know first hand the dangers of concussion and if the RFU and the IRB continue to ignore the dangers of the head on collision that are become increasingly more forceful and more frequent then it may just become a reality that more players may start dropping dead on the field.

Thanks for reading, you can follow me on Twitter @TheSaxonsCoach; as well as our fellow LWOS rugby writers – @lastwordkyle, @richfergie, @LWOSPerrineR and @Daniel_Ford_1. Give the site a follow while you’re at it – @lastwordonsport and please take a moment to like our Facebook Page.

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