Historical research and testimony linking brain injuries with the game shows that this train of thought is nothing newSome interviewees ask as many questions as they answer. Talk to the families of footballers suffering from dementia, and they will tell you about all the little things they look back on now and wonder about. I’ve heard it from the wife of the Middlesbrough defender Bill Gates, who told me about the migraines he sometimes suffered after heading the ball in training. And from the son of the Hull City forward Chris Chilton, who remembered how his dad, when was in his mid-30s, had been to see a specialist who had looked at his scans and told him he “had the...
The former Wales wing’s documentary is broadcast on Thursday and he says the game is changing for the betterShane Williams is one of thousands of former rugby players who can only wonder at the impact their playing days will have in later life. The former Wales and Lions wing does not know how many concussions he suffered during his playing career because there were no head injury assessments then, just a macho culture that demanded you get back on your feet and play on.His determination to find an answer led him to spend two weeks making a documentary. Shane Williams: Rugby, Concussion and Me is broadcast on BBC Wales and BBC iPlayer on Thursday at 8pm. In it he interviews...
The Australia wing caught Fiji’s Peceli Yato in the head with a shoulder and didn’t use his arms, World Rugby’s tackle directives could not be clearer – yet no action was takenFor 15 minutes the Sapporo Dome sounded as loud as any other ground in the game. And then the rugby started. The volume was ear-splitting in the minutes before kick-off, while the stadium PA was pumping out music, but it fell almost entirely silent in the very second the New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe blew his whistle.It was so quiet in the first half that you could clearly hear the players shouting to each other over the murmurs of the 40,000-odd people in the ground. It made it all feel...
The physical threat posed by a fast bowler is a legitimate aspect of cricket and this was an elevated example of a hallowed genreWhile mulling over England’s tactics for what would go down in history as the Bodyline series, Douglas Jardine watched a newsreel of Donald Bradman, his side’s principal adversary, batting at the Oval in 1930. What particularly caught his eye was an incident in which a short ball from Harold Larwood hit the Australia hero on the chest. Examining it again and again, Jardine thought he saw Bradman flinch as the delivery bore down on him at high speed. His daughter remembered his comment. “I’ve got it – he’s yellow,” Jardine exclaimed and made his preparations accordingly. Related:...
Charging into an opponent to exploit weight advantage is legitimate but how many more players like Pat Lambie will have their careers ended early before anything is done?Pat Lambie retired from rugby this week at the age of 28, the latest player done too soon after suffering repeated concussions. The South Africa fly-half stood out for his relative lack of weight, little more than 13st, and was a target for bulky ball-carriers.It was a collision with the Ireland No 8 CJ Stander, a player nearly 5st heavier, in 2016 that started the countdown for Lambie’s retirement. The following year, he spent six months out after colliding with a teammate in training and suffered another concussion that December playing for Racing...