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A series of reports this week by New Zealand Herald journalist Dylan Cleaver into a cluster of five Taranaki representative players from 1964 all suffering from Dementia, will surely have followers of rugby very concerned. If not, they should be.
As sad as the plight of these players is – and to be clear, despite compelling circumstantial indicators, there is no definitive evidence that they are suffering from any affliction caused directly as a result of playing rugby – this was always a story waiting to break in one form or another.
The Taranaki link is a contrivance of sorts; in the 1960s players played for their clubs and, for as long as their form warranted selection, for their province. In this case, one of the players involved, Neil Wolfe, also became in 1961, New Zealand’s youngest All Black, whose debut Test against France was marked by his being knocked cold after twenty minutes.
Thus the story here is not that this is an unusually high number of players from one provincial team, but that they are a subset of rugby players per se. No matter how you slice and dice it; a set of players who all wore number seven for example, or a set who all played their first senior club match in any given year, there is strong suspicion that the outcome will be the same. Rugby has a smouldering concussion problem and there are difficult days ahead.
NZ Rugby Players Association head Rob Nichol emphasizes that modern concussion management practices are increasingly ensuring that today’s players are safe. To what extent remains unclear. Safer relative to these Taranaki players from the 1960s perhaps, but even casual followers of the game will be aware of the number of concussions suffered by high profile players such as Richie McCaw and Keiran Read to name but two.
Nichol talks about how this is a “societal problem”, which may or may not be so; but this surely doesn’t diminish the task of rugby administrators in responsibly dealing with the issue, and for coping with the inevitable public relations mess which will build around any future revelations.
Ex Scotland and Lions No.8 John Beattie recently made a documentary for the BBC outlining the personal struggles of ex rugby players with early onset Dementia. What is most striking is the age of many of the sufferers, with a number only in their 40s.
Cleaver also cites a French study in 2015, which found a higher rate of mild cognitive disorder in retired rugby players compared to other retired sportspeople.
Note that to date, the emphasis in rugby is on Dementia and Alzheimer’s, (which affects around 70 per cent of people with Dementia).
Nigerian-born Pathologist Dr Bennet Omalu is credited with the discovery of Chronic Traumatic Enchephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease shown to be directly related to repeated head trauma or concussion.
Until recently, CTE has not been definitely diagnosed until after death, although in February this year Dr Omalu announced that experimental testing at UCLA using a set of 14 former NFL players identified Minnesota Vikings linebacker Fred McNeill as having CTE before his death, which was subsequently confirmed post-mortem.
Dr Omalu is the person on which the 2015 film Concussion is based. In my view the film is unsatisfying, in the same sense that Clint Eastwood’s Invictus is not a proper account of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. It is over-earnest and hostage to cinematic conventions, star power and box-office considerations, which invariably work to fit a certain ‘hero overcomes the odds to battle evil villian’ template.
The villain in this case being the NFL, who for many years obfuscated and muddied the waters around Dr Omalu, and the wider concussion issue at hand.
More successful is a book I read over the summer break, League of Denial, by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru. The book sinks its teeth into the NFL, in searching for the truth about the effects of concussion on players.
Shockingly, they detail how the NFL consistently strived to cover up mounting evidence of the link between football and brain damage, echoing the actions of big tobacco companies fighting to hide the link between smoking and lung cancer. Compulsory reading, I’d suggest, for all local rugby administrators.
Faced with growing numbers of cases, the NFL in recent years has begun to shift ground. Measures have been introduced into the game around equipment and concussion protocols, to improve health and safety outcomes for players. But still they continue to be haunted by images such as in this season AFC wildcard game where the image of Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver Antonio Brown laying limp on the ground as a result of concussion were replayed into family households across the country.
The likely inference is that money and the ticking time-bomb that is a series of liability lawsuits, was at the heart of their response; officially and unofficially.
The first actions from former players against the NFL were filed in 2011, with an eventual 2015 settlement providing for up to $5m per retired player for serious medical conditions associated with head trauma. The settlement applies to over 5,000 ex-players retired on or before July 7, 2014. What comfort that provides current players and their families is uncertain.
The NFL’s lawyer Jeff Pash duly announced, “today’s decision underscores the fairness and propriety of this historic settlement.” Another interpretation might be that the NFL has the financial means, for now at least, to maintain a semblance of control over the problem.
What they can’t control however, despite whatever improved protocols now exist in the game, is the fundamental issue of concussion in a collision sport.
This isn’t the NFL’s issue alone, nor is it in boxing. In local terms rugby, rugby league and AFL have seats at this table, and may be about to find out the extent of their involvement.
If you are like me, a common reaction is to think back over one’s own playing career to try to recall the number of concussions suffered. Just how bad were they? How few or how many are ok? Scary stuff.
Regardless of these concerns it is probable that most of us will continue to lead full and healthy lives. And eventually drop by the wayside due to any number of reasons other than CTE.
But one thing that now seems likely, is that in coming years, this affliction is likely to impose itself on the lives of increasing number of rugby players – indeed footballers of all codes – and with it, perhaps even threaten the very existence of the sport, at least in the way we know it today.
Concussion landmines are seemingly already in place. There will be more examples come to light such as Cleaver has outlined in Taranaki.
It will be fascinating to see if local rugby administrators follow the NFL template or, alternatively, make a transparent, genuine effort to engage past and present players, fans and sponsors into navigating what are serious challenges for the sport.