It is a worrying and increasingly widespread phenomenon. For Mike Edwards, 48, a former Welsh pillar, the symptoms came on suddenly two years ago. “All of a sudden, everything deteriorated,” said the person concerned in a press release. I got clumsy, I was dropping things all the time. I had headaches, waves of fatigue. I couldn’t stand the bright lights anymore, even the fact that my wife turned on the light in the morning got on my nerves. The loud noises were painful. “
Since the medical examinations passed by Edwards revealed that he was suffering from dementia and probably chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease diagnosed mainly in sportsmen having suffered repeated shocks to the head. He is not the only one in this case. With other former rugby league players – a particularly violent discipline – he decided to act, so that their evil is recognized and to protect future generations.
Ten former professional rugby league players, including British internationals, showing symptoms of neurological damage, have in fact decided to file a complaint against the English Federation (RFL) for negligence, the law firm which defends them announced on Wednesday.
These ten players, aged under 60, including Bobbie Goulding, former England international and coach of the France team from 2009 to 2011, form a “pilot group”, clarified the firm Rylands Legal, which also represents 175 players. rugby union in a similar procedure launched last December against those responsible for their discipline.
In total, about fifty players at XIII, whose age ranges from their twenties to fifties, and presenting symptoms associated with brain damage, are represented by these lawyers. The collective complaint accuses the RFL of negligence for not having protected the players from the consequences of concussions.
“That such a thing, out of nowhere, comes crashing into me like a bus, it’s hard to accept,” said Goulding, quoted in the statement, and who learned this month that he had precocious dementia and probably chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
“I remember having to play again just a few days after severe knockouts on at least three occasions,” said Goulding, who played 17 years for the biggest English teams, such as Wigan, Leeds or St Helens.
The plaintiffs claim that the RFL take “immediate, relatively inexpensive measures (…) such as limiting contact in training and extending the period necessary before resuming play” in the event of a concussion, explained l lawyer Richard Boardman. World rugby union’s governing body World Rugby last month recommended limiting contact phases in training to protect players from injury.
In September Steve Thompson, World champion in 2003 with England in rugby union, announced that he was going to bequeath his brain to science. The former hooker from Brive, who also suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, wants to advance research into this disease.
