Concussion awareness is vital
I REFER to the report, “Call to ban rugby for under-18s” (The Star, Feb 18; online at tinyurl. com/3sb9eb2w). Such calls are not new, having been made more than a decade ago. At that time, I wrote a letter reminding local rugby officials to strictly observe and implement the then International Rugby Board’s Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) Protocol.
Readers might find a recap of the letter useful:
Rugby has long been recognised for its demanding physicality and as a sport of courage and true grit, the key attributes to moulding characters to become sturdy and stoic.
In colonial Malaya, most big plantations preferred to employ rugby players as managers as such individuals were perceived to have the strength of character to endure the loneliness and hardships of estate life.
But rugby has an ominous downside. It is such an inherently dangerous game that even the International Rugby Board (IRB), rugby’s governing body, highlights in bold italics this aspect in its booklet on the “Laws of the Game”.
Concussion, a brain injury, remains a cause of great concern. It is one of the most common injuries in the sport due to heavy blows to the head or body that cause the brain to move abnormally within the skull. And former players who sustained multiple concussions in their playing careers may suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Even rugby’s cousin, American football, is grappling with the scourge of CTE and this despite their players wearing protective gear that includes helmets. But frighteningly, rugby has no protective equipment at all and its players are constantly walloped by tackles and deliberate bodily collisions in the game, what more the hard tussles in the rucks, mauls and scrums.
The IRB has made it compulsory for its referees to undergo a concussion education course and to have on their person the Standardised Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) card. It is also mandatory for all matches to be assisted by medical teams on the sidelines to assess whether a player is fit to continue playing under the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) protocol. Any wrong judgement may be fatal for the player if he were to suffer another blow to the head in the match.
Even such measures are heavily criticised as simply inadequate, especially the five-minute assessment under the PSCA.
What then of the vast majority of matches that are played without the support of officials knowledgeable in SCAT and without the medical teams, particularly at the school level?
This becomes more alarming as medical evidence has shown that young school players are the most vulnerable to concussions as their brains are still developing.
Recent tragedies in Britain involving school rugby have seen the launch of various concussion awareness campaigns. The British Medical Journal has also ratcheted up the chorus for safer rugby. It has published articles stating that rugby exposes youngsters to severe and debilitating injuries, and that more safety measured must be considered.
Such steps may help reduce the frequency of the most severe injuries, of which young players have about a one-in-10 chance of sustaining.
A South African study has found that younger children are four times more likely to be injured than those in the Under18 teams. The Scottish Rugby Union does not allow 15-year-old front row forwards to play in the Under-18 teams. These forwards play in the scrum, the most dangerous part of rugby where serious injuries to the neck and spine may occur. The IRB has a rule that only experienced players, suitably trained for the front row, can play in that position.
Hopefully, Malaysian rugby authorities have been keeping abreast of such developments and are also constantly updating their own safety guidelines, especially the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSC) which is responsible for the welfare of the hundreds of young schoolboys who take to the sport.
Maybe the MSSC should also consider implementing concussion awareness education for those involved in school rugby.
Do not lightly dismiss the injury of concussion as it is a question of life and death.