The Sidney Morning Herald
A leading neurologist says lawyers will ultimately be responsible for forcing the NRL and other football codes to adopt a hardline approach to the practice of continuing to use players who've suffered a concussion.
The issue was placed under the spotlight again last week when it was revealed Newcastle prop Ben Cross was stood down after he'd suffered his third concussion in is as many games over a four-week period. Dr Raymond Schwartz, who has treated numerous first-grade league players for head injuries, warned the practice of using players who'd taken bad knocks to the head was dangerous.
''There are different grades of concussion; there's a grade where you are not necessarily unconscious but in a confused state, but if a footballer has been unconscious I don't think he should be allowed back on the field for four to six weeks,'' Dr Schwartz said.
''I understand there are [football] guidelines, but from my perspective there isn't enough of an emphasis being made to keep players who've suffered a concussion off the field.
''From a neurology point of view if you get a concussive injury you are at greater risk of getting further concussive injury and repeated concussive injuries definitely cause brain damage.''
Dr Schwartz believed the courtroom and a legal debate about a club's duty of care to an injured player would ultimately lead to a toughening up of the practice.
''It needs to be put in the spotlight,'' he said. ''And while doctors will continue to make warnings like mine, I think ultimately it will be lawyers - and journalists, too - who'll drive the point.''
While there is the possibility a footballer could one day argue he was allowed to play on when he was not in a fit state to make such a decision, Dr Schwartz said he was shocked to hear a footballer's view on the damage he was doing to his brain after a series of head knocks.
''I remember looking after a well known first-grade player, and he's quite an intelligent guy,'' said Dr Schwartz. ''But he told me in the first few minutes of a game he - or one of his colleagues - would get a concussive injury but they'd stay on the field and their teammates would point them in the direction of where to run and use them as battering rams.
''They were in what he called a 'haze' and when I asked why he did that to himself he was honest. He said it was his career, his livelihood and that there was an incredible financial imperative for him to remain on the field because of the bonuses. He was between a rock and a hard place.
''When you couple their lifestyle, which includes alcohol, it adds fuel to the fire.''
Last year the American National Football League commissioned a study on the long-term affect of football-related head injuries and it revealed Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players vastly more often than that nation's population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
The issue was placed under the spotlight again last week when it was revealed Newcastle prop Ben Cross was stood down after he'd suffered his third concussion in is as many games over a four-week period. Dr Raymond Schwartz, who has treated numerous first-grade league players for head injuries, warned the practice of using players who'd taken bad knocks to the head was dangerous.
''There are different grades of concussion; there's a grade where you are not necessarily unconscious but in a confused state, but if a footballer has been unconscious I don't think he should be allowed back on the field for four to six weeks,'' Dr Schwartz said.
''I understand there are [football] guidelines, but from my perspective there isn't enough of an emphasis being made to keep players who've suffered a concussion off the field.
''From a neurology point of view if you get a concussive injury you are at greater risk of getting further concussive injury and repeated concussive injuries definitely cause brain damage.''
Dr Schwartz believed the courtroom and a legal debate about a club's duty of care to an injured player would ultimately lead to a toughening up of the practice.
''It needs to be put in the spotlight,'' he said. ''And while doctors will continue to make warnings like mine, I think ultimately it will be lawyers - and journalists, too - who'll drive the point.''
While there is the possibility a footballer could one day argue he was allowed to play on when he was not in a fit state to make such a decision, Dr Schwartz said he was shocked to hear a footballer's view on the damage he was doing to his brain after a series of head knocks.
''I remember looking after a well known first-grade player, and he's quite an intelligent guy,'' said Dr Schwartz. ''But he told me in the first few minutes of a game he - or one of his colleagues - would get a concussive injury but they'd stay on the field and their teammates would point them in the direction of where to run and use them as battering rams.
''They were in what he called a 'haze' and when I asked why he did that to himself he was honest. He said it was his career, his livelihood and that there was an incredible financial imperative for him to remain on the field because of the bonuses. He was between a rock and a hard place.
''When you couple their lifestyle, which includes alcohol, it adds fuel to the fire.''
Last year the American National Football League commissioned a study on the long-term affect of football-related head injuries and it revealed Alzheimer's disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league's former players vastly more often than that nation's population - including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
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