Posted December 9, 2020 at 4:15 p.m. – updated December 9, 2020 at 4:32 p.m.
Mathieu WARNIER
Like the legal action launched in 2012 by former NFL players, around 100 rugby players have decided to file a collective complaint against World Rugby and several national federations concerning the management of concussions. .
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This is a case that could be a game-changer in rugby at the world level. This Tuesday, a group of around 100 players or former rugby players decided to file a complaint against World Rugby but also the English (RFU) and Welsh rugby (WRU) federations. The object of this complaint is to highlight the problems related to the management of concussions, and their consequences, by these federations. They are accused of “lack of protection against the risks incurred after concussions” according to the law firm appointed by this group, Rylands. A procedure that comes eight years after that launched by 4,500 former American football players against the NFL, which pushed the almighty league to review its procedures and to compensate these players for a sum of around a billion dollars (825.5 million euros). Among the members of this group are the former right pillar of the All Blacks, Toulon and Pau Carl Hayman, the former English third row Michael Lipman, the former English second row Mouritz Botha.
World Rugby has gradually reduced return to play time
But the two most convincing examples are the former 2003 world champion with England Steve Thompson and the former Welsh third row Alix Popham. Regarding the former Briviste, the consequences of concussions are a probable chronic encephalopathy, or ECT, which deprives him in particular of the memories of the victory of XV de la Rose in Australia at the 2003 World Cup. In a daily interview The team, Alix Popham said she could no longer take care of her two-year-old daughter on her own, having memory problems, one of the consequences of which was the start of a fire after forgetting to turn off a hob. While World Rugby, RFU and WRU have not reacted, lawyer Richard Boardman, who represents Steve Thompson and Alix Popham, calls on these three bodies to react. ” The first obvious step for World Rugby and the English and Welsh federations to take is to come out of denial and recognize that there is a problem. », Assures the latter. However, according to the complainants, the reverse has happened over the past 45 years with a recovery time after concussion reduced from three weeks in 1977 to six days in 2011 on the recommendations of the World Rugby Medical Committee, who had minimized the importance of the phenomenon. The procedure launched could change the situation … and cost the federations dearly.
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