DAWSON’S FEAR
‘There may be more brain injuries’
MATT DAWSON says he fears for the long-term health of more of England’s World Cup-winning stars after Kyran Bracken became the latest to admit concerns.
Bracken, second from left during that victorious 2003 campaign, has suffered short-term memory problems. Fellow scrum-half Dawson, right, said: “I haven’t been tested but I suspect that there will be more
players like Kyran thinking I will just go and get checked because this doesn’t feel right. And, you know, there may well be other cases too.
“I think a lot of rugby players of our generation, that early professional generation where the understanding of what contact and repeated contact in training was doing, will come forward.”
Speaking to a parliamentary committee investigating links between sport and long-term brain injury, Bracken revealed he was concerned about the effects of repeated concussions during his playing days.
His brave evidence follows a host of players from that era to raise concerns or worse with many, such as Steve Thompson, diagnosed with early onset dementia or
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).The onset of the professional era in 1995 saw training intensity race ahead of concussion protocols.
Dawson believes it is players from that era who will suffer the most. “It was such a significant change from Tuesday and Thursday-night training for a couple of hours from seven to nine, to then doing it every day,” he said.
“That is where the spike will be.The RFU did improve the concussion reporting and protocols from 2000 with Simon Kemp coming in as the doctor and filling out injury reports. Research that probably started goes back to 2000 but of course that takes time to filter through how you deal with training.”