Former Wales flanker Alix Popham has told AFP he hopes the new chairman of World Rugby will push for the changes required to prevent players from suffering the long-term effects of successive head injuries, as he has done.
Bill Beaumont steps down as chairman on Thursday after eight years and Popham is scathing about the changes made during the Englishman’s tenure, calling them “smoke and mirrors”.
The issue is highly sensitive for World Rugby, which says the sport “remains at the forefront of managing concussion and reducing head impacts in general”.
Popham, who won 33 caps between 2003 and 2008 and played in two World Cups, was diagnosed in 2020 with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy at the age of 40.
CTE is a progressive brain condition that is thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and episodes of concussion.
Popham is one of a group of former internationals pursuing legal action against World Rugby, England’s Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.
“The measures basically put in place since we went public are a lot of smoke and mirrors,” he told AFP in a phone interview.
He said the positive effect of the legal action is that “it has highlighted the problem”.
“But the changes that need to be made are not being made.”
One of the measures that has been tried are ‘smart’ mouthguards, which are used to identify players that need to be assessed, although the concussion diagnosis is made by a doctor.
Brett Robinson, an Australian who is one of three candidates bidding to succeed Beaumont, told New Zealand newspaper The Post in August that World Rugby will invest £40 million ($51 million) in player welfare in the next few years.
That will include paying for instrumented mouthguards in every competition in the world.
Popham said “if we are looking in the mirror, we are not being 100 percent honest on real issues here”. He added: “Some big, big changes need to be brought in.”
He would like to see “rest periods after head injury, regular MOTs, annual tests for players and tests to pick up on any brain damage from the week before.”
‘Being honest’
He would also like rugby to emulate the National Football League in the US when it comes to contact in training.
Popham said in his day training at Welsh club Scarlets and Brive in France was like ‘the Wild West”, recalling how players who wanted his place “were hitting seven bells out of you”.
“It should not just be guidelines but the amount of contact should be mandatory and policed,” he said.
“Most damage done in a player’s career is in training so that needs to be in place like the NFL did 14 years ago.”
Popham, who along with his wife Mel founded the charity Head For Change, said being frank with all those involved in the sport would be a step in the right direction.
“It is about being honest with players, coaches, mums, dads, and teachers that every contact is causing some sort of brain damage,” he said.
“For a player who has been KO’d having a traumatic brain injury and return seven days later is absolutely criminal, when a boxer is given three months off, this needs to be changed.”
Although at elite level some players do return after seven days, those who have a “criteria one event”, showing clear and obvious symptoms at the time of the incident, or those who have a history of concussion, are stood down for a minimum of 12 days.
Even then they have to be cleared by an independent concussion consultant.
In a statement to AFP, World Rugby said due to the ongoing legal action they could not “engage with Alix directly” and were” saddened to hear the story of any former rugby player who is struggling.”
“Rugby remains at the forefront of managing concussion and reducing head impacts in general,” they said, highlighting initiatives such as the “smart mouthguards” and “trials of a lower legal tackle height in the community game”.
Popham, who says his wife now “acts as his memory”, believes the next five years will be critical for the sport.
“I have spoken to lots of mums and dads who won’t be sending their kids to practice because of what is currently going on,” he said.
“Until those changes are made, until the age of contact is increased (from nine) and safety measures put in place, who would send their kids to rugby?”
