JEFF PROBYN
A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME
AS WE all take a break for the summer and thoughts of rugby slowly fade into the background of daily life, the spectre of a potentially game threatening legal action has once again raised its head.
The call accusing the RFU and WRU of not releasing the medical records of some of the players who have signed up to the court action seems to me a little far fetched.
Admittedly, I can only comment on the time when I was playing and administrating the game, but I am pretty sure that not much has changed, because when most players suffered an injury on the field they were treated by the NHS.
As a result, the medical records would only be available to the players treated and not anyone else, the same is true for those that had private medical care, perhaps through their club.
The truth is, it’s the players who have access to their own medical records and not the various Unions although they may be able to gain access from doctors who have roles within the game.
I am pretty sure that if the Unions could have had access to the players’ medical conditions, many of those players would have been banned from ever taking to the field again, given some of the injuries that had taken place in club and inter national games.
In fact some of the players involved in bringing this kind of action were told never to play again but ignored that advice and continued to play for a number of years which sadly would only have contributed to any issues that were then being created.
I had a few injuries in my playing career, including a concussion against Ireland in the 1989 Five Nations game when Jimmy McCoy decided to kick a tapped lineout ball just as I had dropped on it and he kicked my head instead. I was briefly knocked unconscious but was awakened by the ‘magic sponge’ as we used to called it, because it was used no matter what the injury and was applied by our physio. I carried on playing for another 20 minutes either side of the half-time break, but to this day have absolutely no memory of the game after that kick.
I was replaced in the second half when Brian Moore noticed I was not right and told the referee. I was sent to hospital in Ireland and banned from playing for a month or two which cost me a place in the ‘89 Lions tour of Australia with my England replacement Gareth Chilcott taking the spot instead.
I also missed the rest of that Five Nations and a few club games for Wasps.
After that game I was hoping that I would not be diagnosed with concussion (I even asked my wife to tell everyone I was fine, but thankfully she didn’t) as I knew that RFU rules meant that I would face a lengthy lay off and not be allowed to play and even though it was an amateur game in those days, I wanted to play more than anything.
“Some players ignored advice to stop playing and continued for a number of years”
It was the only time I had a lay off from the game despite during another game I almost lost an ear at the bottom of a ruck that required 27 stitches to repair, and I played the following week.
However, fortunately, I never received an injury where I was told that for medical reasons I should stop playing the game and so I continued playing into the professional era where I played for Bedford Blues and the odd game for Bristol and other clubs.
I loved being on the pitch and playing the game at all levels and enjoying the rivalry and friendships the game creates, so I do understand the desire that makes players want to risk all to carry on playing the game as long as they can.
That said, if a doctor had told me at any point that there were medical reasons why I shouldn’t play again I would have walked away, as much as it would have been probably one of the hardest decisions to make.
I was lucky in the sense that my time in the professional game was very much like the amateur game, with me having to train one night a week and if selected for the team that week I was paid – if I didn’t there was no pay, but fortunately I was picked for every game.
This meant I was able to maintain my usual daytime job and so had an alter native income if I needed it with my professional rugby fees a welcome bonus that would not be missed that much if and when they stopped.
For the players now it’s not just a case of giving up a much loved pastime, it’s giving up your job and losing your income, as a professional rugby player that is now your full time work. Which if you have no other income or job opportunities makes it harder if not impossible to walk away, no matter what the consequences.
On a parallel, the news that World Rugby are expanding the lower tackle height laws must be a positive for the game although I must admit it is not something that was needed when I learned the game as we were all taught to tackle low at waist or leg height.
I disagree with the failure of World Rugby to trial the blitz/ rush defence systems brought in from Rugby League, as it is continuing to create the problem of the increasing head contact and collisions within the game.
It was the professional clubs who first introduced it to our game and took advantage of the lack of action by World Rugby, so now we have to live with the consequences the game now faces.
