English rugby should set up an independent medical panel to analyse injury trends in the professional game and suggest ways of minimising risk to players to help insulate clubs, and the Rugby Football Union, from legal action in the future, according to a leading negligence lawyer.
From 2019-20, campaigns will last longer but players will have extra rest periods and have a maximum number of matches and game involvements, which will be closely monitored by a new body, the professional game panel. “Clubs have a duty of care to players,” said Steven Baylis, a partner with Lime Personal Injury. “Injuries do seem to be on the increase: what that is down to is for a medical specialist to answer, not a lawyer, but there needs to be more sharing of medical literature about the prevalence of injuries and trends.
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“Clubs will have been put on alert by what has happened in America, in ice hockey as well as American football, over concussion levels. Issues to be looked at include whether overtraining causes weaknesses or too much time lifting heavy weights can predispose players to injuries. Law changes can help, such as tackle height, and the sport has to do all that is practicable to protect players.”
This season has again brought a number of enforced retirements. The former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton was the most notable example, forced to give up the game at the age of 29 because of repetitive neck and shoulder injuries. Ulster’s Jean Deysel called time on his career on Wednesday because of a neck problem and early next year the former Sale scrum-half Cillian Willis’s court action against the club and two doctors will start in Manchester. Willis was forced to retire after suffering concussion in an LV Cup match against Saracens in 2013. He alleges he was allowed to play on and then suffered a second blow to the head.
Baylis said: “Unions and clubs need to ensure they have sufficient insurance to cover themselves against future risk. Some form of negligence would need to be shown in any action, not just that a player becomes less mobile in retirement. That puts the onus on teams not to rush players back from injury too early and regularly publish medical data.
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“Maybe an independent medical panel should look at this to see if there is a common theme developing and whether they think there is a way of keeping the risk as low as possible. There will always be mishaps and fractures but slight tweaks can be made without spoiling the enjoyment of the game. There needs to be more transparency in sport over medical information and protection of players. With the intensity top players operate at, I think the season is too long.”
Damian Hopley, the chief executive of the RPA, said player welfare was at the heart of the changes to the English game’s structure. “It is always unfortunate when a player has to retire prematurely,” he said. “We have seen a number of high-profile players go that way this year. We are trying to control what we can in the English game, looking at aspects like player load, psychological load, training and game time because they are in our gift, but we only have a voice in law changes. Injuries are an occupational hazard and at this point it is hard to say how we reduce them.”