Clamp down on foul play to fight dementia
IT’S sad to hear about one of the 2003 heroes of our sport Steve Thompson having a serious brain condition brought about by years of brutal impacts during games of our beloved rugby.
In light of this we get the usual statements about how we are doing our best to remove the problems caused by concussion due to head impacts. All very welcome but at the same time we witness a disgraceful act of foul play by Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen on Gloucester No.10 Lloyd Evans being given a paltry fourmatch ban.
Esterhuizen claimed he accidentally struck the injured player but should have known Evans’ head was in the region of his elbow. Footage shows that after the ‘accidental impact’ that left Evans with a bloody nose and the dreaded concussion, Esterhuizen didn’t stop and try to assist the player, he just scurried away hoping it would not have been spotted. He offered no apology when it was clear Evans was laying on the floor in trouble with his injuries.
I cannot accept all the well worded statements about brain injuries from people when it appears that the Harlequins head of rugby popped over the road to the ‘old farts’ at RFU to convince a seriously gullible panel that it was accidental and that the player didn’t mean it and accepted a four-week ban!
Please watch the incident and check how useless this panel is going to be in the fight against brain damage if they can believe such a ‘cock and bull’ story.
If we are serious about brain injuries someone should check back all the disciplinary hearing details and put together a competent panel who will not flinch from banning players for long lengths of time or even from the game.
You might also like to watch the following week’s fixture between Munster and Harlequins and witness the intent on Alex Dombrandt’s face as he late shoulder charged into an unaware young No.10 and poleaxed him. Referee Roman Poite at least checked it but then only gave a yellow card for the brutal act that could have caused serious whiplash injuries. Joe Marler, to carry on with Harlequins’ intent to remove opposition 10s, followed up with another late hit with only a penalty given.
If we are serious about brain injuries stop whinging about scrums, rucks and mauls, start clamping down on serious breeches of the laws.
Bill Clee