Sports
Concussion in rugby: Players with worrying brain scans ‘should be forced to retire’
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.
“I’ve had them in my kitchen, they’ve had brain scans and they aren’t great,” Popham, 42, told the Sports Desk Podcast.
Popham added: “I’m not a doctor but if it was me I would take it the decision of continuing to play from them and it shouldn’t be their decision.”
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. The group of players, represented by law firm Rylands Legal, are suing for negligence, claiming that playing the sport caused brain damage.
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’s authorities stressed they “care deeply about all our players” and “never stand still when it comes to welfare”.
They have also highlighted their safeguarding strategies designed “to prevent, identify and manage head injuries”.
However, a World Rugby spokesperson told BBC Sport: “We have not yet been served with the details of the claims against us and as such it is not possible for us to comment further at this time.”
In the week the domestic professional rugby union season started, Popham also told BBC Sport about his ongoing conversations with ex-players.
“It’s quite tough sometimes when I have phone calls from players I used to play with and against and they’re in a really dark place,” he added on the podcast.
“There have been a few where we’ve had to get professional help to their house on a Sunday evening.
“This is the real coalface that we’re dealing with with some of these players. If I help one person, I know we have helped – but there’s a lot more out there.
“And that’s 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.”
World Rugby defended its record on concussion and pointed to new protocols reacting to ongoing research, including this season’s roll-out of smart mouthguards that can measure the frequency and nature of head contact and accelerations, in matches and training.
Players do not regularly have brain scans, but World Rugby’s chief medical officer Dr Eanna Falvey said if a player had “decreasing neurological function” doctors would be “obliged to investigate”.
He added: “If you have somebody who has defined evidence of decreasing neurological function they would not be continuing to play. Absolutely not.”
The governing body’s current protocols in place to try to limit head injuries include:
= head injury assessments used during matches to see if a player is fit to continue
= rest weeks introduced for internationals to limit their game time
= concussed players have a minimum period of 12 days out of action after new rules were brought in this summer
The new protocols follow the latest rugby-specific research by World Rugby’s independent concussion working group.
Dr Falvey said: “Am I convinced that we are doing as much as we can right now? I absolutely am.
“With the data that we’ve got, we’re acting on all the information that we have. Not only that, we’re creating our own data. We’re the only sport that has done this type of work with instrumented mouthguards.
“We have offered instrumented mouthguards to all the teams in the Premiership, all the teams in the women’s top tier AP15. We’ll be doing the same in the Currie Cup and the Farah Palmer Cup next year.
(BBC Sport)
91st Battle of the Saints
St. Joseph’s hold the edge when they meet arch rivals St. Peter’s in the 91st Battle of the Saints’ big match starting today. After having beaten Petes by nine wickets in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ quarter-final at Polonnaruwa the Joes arive at the SSC ground to prove that the victory registered two months ago was not a fluke.
St. Joseph’s captained by wicketkeeper batsman Kenath Liyanage are concluding a successful season after having remained unbeaten until they were eliminated in the semi-final by St. Sebastian’s .
A strong batting lineup and a dynamic spin department are making them a formidable outfit.
Experienced campaigner Yenula Dewthusa and Demion de Silva with their left-arm spin and Aveesha Samash and Nushan Perera with off spin provide the Joes variety in the spin department. Dewthusa, Demion de Silva and Nushan Perera are their leading wicket takers. Spinners doing well at schools matches have not been effective at the SSC during the last few big matches. It will be interesting to watch as to how the spinners in these two teams would fare during the three days.
For pace the Joes will look to Maanasa Madubashana and Dunick Perera who are expected to share the new ball.
Abishek Jayaweera and Aveesha Samash will open batting, while Senuja Wakunugoda, skipper Liyanage, Dewthusa and Rishma Amarasinghe form the rest of the top order batting lineup.
St. Joseph’s registered three outright victories this season (beat St. Servatius’, St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s) and remained unbeaten.
St. Peter’s under Oween Salgado’s captaincy did well to reach the business end of the Tier ‘A’ tournament. But the Petes were uncertain of Salgado’s participation in the big match as they were yet to assess his fitness yesterday morning. He was wounded during a match and the stitched wound had not fully healed according to team sources.
Petes beat Gurukula, St. Aloysius’ and Holy Cross this season. Their only defeat was at the hands of their arch rivals. They will look forward to avenge the defeat at the big match.
The Petes will rely on the likes of Dilana Damsara, Thareen Sanketh, Nathan David and Jason Fernando to take a greater share of batting responsibilities. The middle order batsman Sanketh is their leading batsman and has maintained an average of over 50 runs.
Speedsters Ethan Ransilige and Joshua Sebastian will share new ball duties for the Petes.
Lashmika Perera and Sanketh will share most of the slow ball duties.
St Peter’s are in the possession of the coveted Rev. Fr. Maurice J. Le Goc Trophy having last won the big match under the captaincy of Vinu Mohotty in 2016.
St. Joseph’s lead the series tally 12-10. They last won under Ruwantha Fernandopulle’s captaincy in 2008.
St. Peter’s College Team
(Seated from left) Harsha Prabath Perera (Asst. Physio/Trainer & Massuer), Thushara Maduhanka (1st XI Asst. Coach),
Nalin Wijesinghe (Head Coach), Priyadarshana Cooray (MIC – Senior & Junior), Oween Salgado (Captain), Rev. Fr.
Rohitha Rodrigo (Rector), Rev. Fr. Praveen Wijesekara (Priest in Charge – Cricket), Lashmika Perera
(Vice Captain), Dilana Damsara, Rohan Fernando (MIC – 2nd XI), Dinuka D. Godakanda (2nd XI Coach).
(Standing 1st row from left) Dinsara Rathnaweera, Dineth de Silva, Tharin Senvidu, Nathan David, Hiruka Silva, Thareen
Sanketh, Virul Amarapala, Yatheendra Jayaweera, Salith Gallage, Raphael Hettige. (Standing 2nd row from left) Jason Fernando,
Joshua Sebastian, Savi Fernnado, Ethan Ransilige, Asadisa De Silva, Sadeesha Kariyawasam, Enosh Peterson
by Reemus Fernando
120th Lovers’ Quarrel
The stakeholders of the Lovers’ Quarrel Big Match were still pursuing to make the historic 120th edition a reality on the eve of the match after Richmond authorities threatened to pull out citing that Mahinda had violated an accepted norm by included a newly recruited player in the big match team.
The historic edition was scheduled to commence as a three day encounter at the Galle International Stadium today. But the match remained doubtful at the time this edition went to press. The officials of both teams were unavailable for comments on the eve of the match. According to sources close to the two teams the joint big match committee was scheduled to meet in the evening yesterday to take a final decision regarding the match.
Richmond threatened to pull out after Mahinda included Charya Paranavithana in their big match team. Paranavithana captained St. Aloysius’ this season. He is not eligible to play matches that come under the purview of Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association as he is yet to be registered as a Mahinda player. Big Matches are not played according to SLSCA rules but Richmond authorities had raised concerns over the player registration citing that the two schools had honoured the norm even at the big match.
According to sources Richmond were threatening to pull out if Paranavithana’s name was included in the playing XI on the match day morning.
Mahinda concluded a highly successful season as the team captained by Kaveen Rukshan earned the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ promotion this year. They were also the joint champions of the Tier ‘B’ tournament with Thurstan. In contrast former Division I champions Richmond had to fight relegation scares. The team captained by Thamindu Pradeeptha later successfully retained their Tier A position by recording an outright victory.
Mahinda College Team
Seated left to right: T.D. Ajantha Kumara (Head Coach), Y. Nishantha Kumara (Master in Charge – Senior), L. P. Weeraman (Deputy Principal –
Sports), Kaveen Rukshan (Captain), Mr. Janaka Peduruheva (Principal), Arosha Udayanga (Vice Captain), Mr. M.W. Ajith (Prefect of Games), Mr.
Jagath Samarakoon (Master in charge – Junior), Mr. Sachith Lakmal (Asst. Coach)
Standing (Middle row) – left to right – Dineth Pahasara, Thiyon Helika, Vinupa Nethmira, Sahanjith Irugalbandara, Dulisth Darshana, Senuka
Dangamuwa, Sadew Nethmina, Manitha Rajapaksha, Vishmitha Sathsara, Charya Paranavithana, Randula Mabarana
Standing (Back row) – left to right – Sajeew Punsara, Sehas Ashinsa, Kaveesha Githmal, Thevindu Rashmika
by Reemus Fernando
CR & FC huffed and puffed before beating Havelocks Sports Club 25-24 in a keenly contested Clifford Cup semi final game worked off in Colombo yesterday before booking their berth in Sunday’s rugby final, scheduled to take place in Kandy.
In Sunday’s final, CR will meet Kandy SC, the winner of the first semi final.
CR dominated the first half, but Havies came from behind in the second half to be in contention of pulling the game off till the last minute. Havelocks’ chances were boosted with two powerful tries coming from Chathura Dilshan late in the second half. But unpardonable mistakes by the men in the pink and chocolate jerseys helped CR to slip away with the game. Havelocks gave away two yellow cards during extra time in the second half.
The winners collected their points through three tries, two conversions and two penalties while Havelocks responded with three converted tries and a penalty. The winners led 15-10 at half time. Referee Raveen Alexander controlled the game.
By A Special Sports Correspondent
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