Obamato widen the debate at summiton concussion

PRESIDENT Barack Obama will host a concussion conference in the United States on Thursday as concerns about head injuries in sport reaches the world’s highest political office.

He is expected to unveil new commitments by the public and private sectors aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of concussion following a $765million agreement by the NFL to compensate players suffering from early-onset dementia linked to multiple head injuries.

‘This is something that I think a lot of families spend a lot of time worrying about and want to know as much as they can about, and want to be sure that they’re taking all the precautions they can on behalf of their children,’ a White House spokesman said.

Athletes, coaches, parents, medical experts, administrators and campaigners will attend the White House Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit, aimed at helping to identify, treat and prevent concussions and promote research into injuries in order to better address the problems.

‘The conference is an important development in the debate about concussion in sport,’ said former NFL star and campaigner Chris Nowinski.

‘If the President of the United States is prepared to look at this issue then it suggests it is being taken pretty seriously. I believe the US is leading the way on this subject and other countries, including the UK, will inevitably follow.’

A cross-party paper into concussion in sport will be published in Parliament next month following months of campaigning by the Mail on Sunday.

The International Rugby Board and Rugby Football Union have introduced a raft of new measures to improve player welfare in recent months but the Football Association have yet to introduce any clear protocols despite a promise to do so in March.