The dismissal of Will Spencer against Wasps for a challenge without malice exposed the need for a lighter sanctionWe will come to the rights and wrongs shortly but imagine for a moment you are a rugby player in a packed defensive line. The opposition are moving the ball at pace towards your side of the field and you have to make a split-second judgment. Is the ball destined to reach the individual you are marking or will it disappear out the back to someone else? You are a forward, paid to tackle hard for a living. Missing is unthinkable. You wait … and then launch yourself. Uh, oh. The ball has gone and your target’s head has slightly dipped. Damn...
The horrifying on-field mishandling of a Houston quarterback’s head injury highlighted the limitations of the NFL’s concussion protocol. What can be done?In a sport of hard hits, the NFL has taken more than its share this season. Off the field issues have drawn more attention than the play on the field – particularly the debate over kneeling and the national anthem—and football’s ever-present nemesis, concussions, remains one of the NFL’s biggest problems.Publicly condemned and legally liable for ignoring the long-term effects of brain injury, the NFL seems to have learned from its mistakes and has swiftly tried to respond, primarily through the implementation of a concussion protocol. The protocol, developed in 2009 and amended periodically over the past eight seasons,...
Muhammad Ali and Kevin Doyle came to different decisions about their careers but will scientific advances make decisions any simpler in the future?There’s a story Larry Holmes tells about the night he fought Muhammad Ali for the world title, 37 years ago today, that gives an insight into the epic self-delusion of the greatest heavyweight champion of all.From the first bell Holmes grasped that Ali wasn’t the same man he had sparred with for years. That he was weak and “slower than Heinz ketchup”. Yet Ali’s “damn pride” meant that he would not quit. It took 10 rounds before Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, pulled him out. Before then Holmes had started praying that he wouldn’t damage his friend permanently. Related:...
Kevin Doyle’s retirement on medical grounds because heading was causing persistent headaches shows that problems did not go away when heavy leather balls were phased outIn happier times, there was a story Eric Harrison used to tell his players at Manchester United, as the coach who helped bring through the Class of ’92, about a piece of advice he once received from the centre-half he regarded as the hardest man he had ever seen on a football pitch.George Curtis will always be best remembered as John Sillett’s managerial partner on the day Coventry City won the 1987 FA Cup. Yet for Harrison’s generation in the 1950s and 1960s he was the kind of centre‑half who could trouble even the most...
On Thursday it was revealed a 27-year-old with 44 career NFL games had the brain of a 67-year-old man. Will the league do anything about it?We probably didn’t need Aaron Hernandez’s attorney to declare Thursday that his dead client had the brain of a near-70-year-old with severe dementia. Too many decisions the one-time New England Patriots star made before killing himself earlier this year at 27 made no sense. Experience has told us that when young, wealthy football players start making erratic life choices, there is probably a physical reason lurking inside their skulls. The question is: what will anyone do about it? Related: Aaron Hernandez lawyer says ex-NFL star had 'severe' case of CTE Continue reading...