David Duerson played in the NFL at safety for 10 seasons with the Chicago Bears, New York Giants and Phoenix Cardinals. With no tangible link to the game of rugby, you might wonder why I bring your attention to Duerson.
On Thursday, February 17, Duerson took his own life by shooting himself in the chest.
Before he shot himself, he sent text messages to members of his family requesting that his brain may be kept in tact and offered for testing.
Two weeks ago, it was confirmed that Duerson suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive dementia-like degenerative disease. This comes about due to repeated concussions and have now been discovered in 14 of the 15 former NFL players so far.
What Duerson’s motives were for committing suicide are I don’t know and I don’t want to speculate, but there was a definite reason why he sent out that text that day.
On November 7, 2010, the recently retired Connacht, Munster, Leinster and Ireland hooker John Fogarty had an article published in the Irish Sunday Independent. It was a wonderfully written article tracing his career from first moving to Connacht from Munster where he became Ireland A captain to his move to Leinster and feeling part of that side to gaining his one and only cap as a replacement against New Zealand.
Yet this was not the reason for the article, but to put it in John’s words “highlight an issue that has got me into trouble.” Fogarty had gotten to the stage of his career where he was delighted if he didn’t black out when he got a knock to the head. He suffers from bad headaches and needs to sit in a dark room as the light worsens his headaches.
After failing a few cognitive tests run by the Leinster medical team, he was sent to a neurologist. He was advised to retire from rugby due to the continual concussions he has received.
Rugby is a newer professional sport and the true extent of what concussion is doing to our players won’t be discovered for another decade or so years when we see the first generation of full pro players hit their late 40s/50s.
As John Fogarty says, “I’m sure there are others gone before me who we just don’t know about. And there will be others to follow. This isn’t going away. At least not quietly.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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