Sports such as rugby "are causing a 'silent epidemic' of brain damage and dementia among former players who suffered concussion, a new documentary warns," according to Emily Gosden of the London TELEGRAPH.
Sportsmen and experts including Barry O’Driscoll, the former medical adviser to the Int'l Rugby Board, "have warned of the dangers of head injuries" in the film "Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis." O’Driscoll, who resigned from the IRB medical advisory board two years ago in protest at its handling of head injuries, "cites the treatment of his own nephew, Brian O’Driscoll, as evidence of the problem." He said, "If that had been allowed in the United States, during an American football match, then the officials involved would have been sacked." Speaking at the film premiere last week, England and Lions player Alex Corbisiero said the game’s protocols for dealing with concussion were “laughable” (TELEGRAPH, 3/9). In London, Robin McKie reported in the case of rugby union, the sport "has become hardened and sharpened in the wake of it turning professional in the 1990s." Concussion "was once treated as a joke," but it "has become an extremely worrying problem." But other sports "have been slower to catch up on the newly revealed dangers posed by head traumas, as the producers of Head Games reveal by focusing on ice hockey, Australian rules football, and rugby union." Former players "describe bouts of concussion, disrupted sleep, changes in personality and loss of memory since ending their days as professional players" (GUARDIAN, 3/8). The SYDNEY MORNING HERALD reported rugby league int'l Ian Roberts "will reveal on television that he has suffered brain damage from his playing days." Roberts has told the Australian Channel Seven program "Sunday Night" that "he has suffered memory lapses during his 10-year acting career" (SMH, 3/9).
