Concussion the biggest concern, says former England prop
Rugby World Cup winner Ben Kay has delivered a grim warning for the game as studies into the long-term effects of concussion intensify.
Kay, who won the World Cup with England in 2003, is one of 50 former elite rugby players, aged 40 to 59, taking part in PREVENT:RFC, a landmark investigation into whether they are at a greater risk of early signs of dementia.
Former lock Kay, 46, labelled concussion the game’s greatest concern and warned it threatened the future of the sport.
‘‘It is without doubt the biggest concern that rugby faces,’’ Kay said as the topic was discussed with medical experts on BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight show in Britain.
‘‘If mums and dads don’t think our game is as safe as it can be, they won’t let their little boys and girls go and start playing. Rugby will start to suffer and potentially might not be here in 50 years time.’’
The Prevent study is funded by Britain’s Alzheimer’s Society.
A relieved Kay received a clear brain scan after having some memory issues.
‘‘Perhaps I’m burying my head in the sand a little bit,’’ Kay, who also played for the British & Irish Lions, said in a separate interview with the Daily Mail.
‘‘If I hadn’t played rugby I wouldn’t have any concerns about my brain health at the moment.’’
Kay felt improvements had been made and that needed to continue.
‘‘Rugby does look very different to what it was 10 years ago. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to lessen the risk we were exposed to.’’
He thought the increasing focus on the issue and criticisms of current protocols was a healthy sign
‘‘The fact that those difficult topics have to be talked about keeps everyone honest.’’
But he urged more could be done.
Kay believes that there needed to be a consensus among coaches about the amount of full-contact load players were exposed to in training with the practice load a contributing factor.
‘‘If all coaches felt, right, ‘That’s what everyone can do [in terms of the number of contact sessions]. No other clubs are doing more than us’, they’d accept doing less contact training and coaches will get better in other ways,’’ he reasoned.
‘‘As soon as that happens, they’ll find other ways to move the level of excellence in their teams on. They’ll be saying ‘we can’t do that, but how do we make our players even better tacklers now, without doing full-on contact’.’’