Spreading the word on concussions
Canadian Jamie Cudmore sets up foundation to highlight danger of head injuries
Sadly Jamie Cudmore knows about concussions all too well.
The 38-year-old lock forward from Squamish, arguably Canada’s most famous rugby export over the last decade, has painful first-hand experience. At six-foot-five and 255 pounds, the teak-hard Cudmore plays a physical game and has paid the price.
Cudmore is looking to help protect others via his soon-to-be-launched Rugby Safety Network, a non-profit foundation he is establishing with wife Jennifer March-Cudmore.
He believes France, where he has played professionally since 2004, is behind North America and Britain when it comes to sports head injuries.
“In France, there’s definitely a huge gap in terms of how they’re treated, the kind of stigma around them,” Cudmore said in an interview. “That’s basically where our foundation is going to be headed, in really trying to educate young players around the dangers (of concussions) and basically just how to deal with them properly.”
For Cudmore, the answer is simple. Any player suspected of a head injury should not be allowed to play on. Currently if the player passes a head injury assessment, he is allowed to continue.
Cudmore, who moved to Oyonnax this season after more than a decade with Clermont Auvergne, is not sure how many concussions he has had
“Counting over the years of ski racing, boxing and pro rugby, there’s definitely a few,” he said.
“I think every time I was concussed in ski racing and definitely playing sports in Canada I was always well taken care of. The problem was playing professional sports here in France, I was allowed to continue to play on and that’s where the real danger lies.”
Cudmore points to two weeks in 2015, playing for Clermont in the semifinal and final of the high-profile European Cup.
In the April 18 semifinal, Cudmore rammed into 278-pound Saracens forward Billy Vunipola in a head-on-head collision at a ruck. Cut on the forehead, he left the field in the 23rd minute as a blood substitution and was instructed he was done for the day.
Cudmore said he was told several minutes later that he was needed because his second-row partner was in trouble. “I went back out there and finished the game and I don’t really remember much.”
Before the May 2 final, Cudmore was allowed to rest and saw a neurosurgeon before eventually being cleared to resume playing. “I ended up playing two weeks later in the final thinking that everything was OK. But obviously it wasn’t because I had two more incidents.”