- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Exalting the virtues of the ‘courageously injured team mate’, especially where head injuries are concerned, is a potentially dangerous form of praise that is woven into the very fabric of every contact sport in the country. And it desperately needs to change.
To emphasise my point I’d like to first take you on a concussion fueled trip down a hazy memory lane.
It was a cold mid nineties Saturday afternoon at Chatswood Oval and I had just been knocked senseless by an unfortunately placed and rather hard second rowers knee.
I remember hearing a groan from the crowd along with a high-pitched ‘oh my god’ from the old lady selling sausage sandwiches in the kiosk.
I awoke seconds later with our ever diligent and relevantly named ‘head’ trainer kneeling over me.
While I cannot remember what he said I suspect it was something along the lines of ‘are you ok mate?’ to which I probably replied ‘yes, I’m fine’.
I say probably because I don’t know and I remembered very little from the rest of the game.
I do know that I diligently ran up and down the sideline following the play like some errant puppy wanting to get involved with the big dogs, but not really being sure how.
The final whistle blew and I marched back to the sheds with a splitting headache and wondering the whole time what the hell had just happened.
‘Did we win?’ I asked.
Someone just slapped me on the arse and laughed.
This was possibly the first real sign of concussion because in that team the term ‘did we win’ was either considered an oxymoron or a very rude joke.
In the sheds my teammates all stood around chatting about the miserable refs call that allowed the 7th opposition try while I lay on the physio table watching the brick wall dance before my eyes.
Then it came time to hand out the 3-2-1 votes…. and 1 point went to me!?!
The coach placed his arms around me as I sat up from the table. He spoke of the ‘courage’ and ‘guts’ I had displayed for staying on after what was apparently a ‘sickening blow’.
I was very confused, and began asking what I had done to be named in the points, ‘Nothing’ one of my team mates said, ‘you did nothing. But you stayed on the field’.
I felt proud that I had done all I could help out the team, help that was basically running on the spot with stars flickering before my eyes.
The coach went on with some stupid and irrelevant war metaphor, about how I had shown ‘courage under fire’ (I’ve never understood the whole ‘war’ and ‘sports’ comparison. I’m pretty sure in one you could die and another you could get paid a lot).
Even though I barely remember displaying anything other than confusion, my pride swelled further.
I left the ground that afternoon with a sore head and a seemingly undeserved reputation for ‘courage’.
It’s now 2013 and while rules surrounding players safety when it comes to head knocks are both improving and being constantly discussed, it seems the cultural attitudes that can perpetuate the dangers of head injuries are not.
These all too common attitudes were similarly on display early in the South Sydney versus Warriors NRL match yesterday, but could more than likely be just as easily found in any code throughout the weekend.
The Rabbitohs prop David Tyrell had just clashed heads in a heavy collision with his Warriors opposite.
Tyrell was visibly shaken by the impact and obviously struggling to find his way back into position.
Teammates had to physically help him back to the ensuing scrum, all the while Tyrell could be seen admirably trying to convince his teammates and training staff that he was fine to continue.
The commentators made jokes about how hard both players heads must be and how heavy the accidental collision was.
His teammates could be seen encouraging him and patting him on the back, no doubt grateful for his ‘courage’ and ‘commitment’.
It is this cultural attitude towards the ‘courageous’ injured player that requires the biggest shift when discussing concussion in contact sports.
These attitudes are exalted by commentators and inadvertently promoted by coaches and teammates lauding players ‘brave’ and ‘courageous’ decisions to stay on the field to ‘help out their mates’.
It is not courage that sees a player continue after suffering a heavy head knock, it is irresponsibility.
Like the way that improved and educated attitudes of blood infections led to safer practices around bleeding and bloodied uniforms, the same needs to happen with regard to concussion injuries.
And in conjunction with these tighter rules, the sooner the attitudes and cultures of all those involved in contact sports can be shifted (players, coaches, media and fans included) the safer all contact sports will be.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.