SPORTS BOOK OF THE WEEK

A Delicate Game: Brain Injury, Sport And Sacrifice by Hana Walker-Brown (Sportsbookofthemonth.com price £16.40, saving £3.60 on rrp)

Over the past 20 years, rugby union has become markedly faster as seriously enhanced levels of fitness have grown integral to the game. Not everything has improved though. Regrettably, the scrum has developed into a source of frustration for players and spectators, its value to the game’s momentum plummeting to an all-time low. At the same time, the number of ‘big hits,’ perfectly legitimate tackles executed by huge men, have grown exponentially. Yet where once they took spectators’ breath away, a number have become a cause for concern.

Take this season’s Six Nations fixture between England and Wales at Twickenham, for example, where Welsh player Tomas Francis took a heavy blow to the head. Francis was clearly distressed, stumbling around the goal-line like a drunk, leaning on a goalpost at one stage to establish his bearings. He and team-mate Owen Watkin received concussion assessments after which both men returned to the field of play.

Author Hana Walker-Brown has written a well-researched book in which she argues that sporting leaders and administrators ignore the unseen impact concussion can have on the brain at their peril.

Why is this? Walker-Brown suggests that money pumped into sport by broadcasters is one extremely persuasive reason, as is humans’ innate desire to compete. This is correct, but far too many sports are hiding their heads in the sand, a short-sighted display of denial which could result in legal action. In fact, it already has: World Cup-winning England prop Steve Thompson, a young man at 43, is suing the rugby authorities for their failure to protect players from the longer-term impact of concussion.

Boxing, that most brutal of sport in which success depends heavily upon landing significant blows to an opponent’s head, began changing its ways almost 50 years ago when a rule amendment permitted ringside doctors to call a halt to bouts if one participant was taking heavy punishment. Referees, too, were allowed to call contests off for the same reason.

But it’s not just boxing and rugby that Walker-Brown puts under the microscope. She explains how the build-up of tau proteins in the brain, brought on by heavy collisions, have a degenerative effect on sportsmen and women. The subsequent decline is worryingly predictable. Starting with headaches, sufferers can ultimately experience depression and even suicide.

It’s for this reason that many medics believe that heading should be banned from football. Purists may not agree, but after reading

they might have doubts.