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.”
zhenry
Guest
Thanks for the article CR and Tank for NYer link. It’s something that should be monitored closely. As well these stand up hit ups that target the shoulder/neck/head area bring a new threat to player safety. Any tackle around this head area should be made illegal. How can someone break someone’s jaw and not be penalised for a head high tackle? At present there is a blaze attitude to it all.
p.Tah
Guest
Cizzy, it's a tough subject. I think we do tend to bury our heads in the sand because there is no obvious solution. Judging by the story of the NFL player helmets are not the answer. There is a medical group in the US that are requesting rugby league players to donate their brains (after their death obviously) to study the effects of repeated head knocks There was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald this week about how serious repeated concussions are in amateur rugby. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/one-knockout-blow-to-the-head-leads-to-another-20110513-1emlq.html It's good to see that players are no longer encouraged to get back up and play on if they have a head knock. The more we speak about it the chance there is that better management techniques will develop. When I played you weren't a man if you didn't get back and keep playing, fortunately this act is no longer seen as mucho... Just stupid.
CizzyRascal
Roar Guru
I suppose I didn't expect to get much response, but just two responses, well.......... I suppose people just want to bury their heads in the sand about this topic.
King of the Gorgonites
Roar Guru
Sombering stuff. Berrick Barnes springs to mind. Or Elton Flatley.
Tank
Guest
Great article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Outliers) on this very topic from the New Yorker a couple of years ago: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell It's a bit of a read but well worthwhile if you have the time.