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14 • Touchline • Issue 18
four months earlier I had signed a 3 year contract with the
ARU: the biggest contract of my year, and here I was talking
about retiring. We had a great doctor there and when I sat
down with him he basically said that for my well-being, it
might be best for me to retire. So it was a pretty hard time. The
ARU were very nice to me – they paid out the three years on
my contract, so thank you!
Probably the area that wasn’t so good when I was playing
was the game day situation where if you got a concussion
you didn’t go off the field and get examined as much as what
they are doing today. I think the codes have had some really
good initiative over the last few years and I commend them, I
think that is fantastic. I think professionally there will always
be concussions unfortunately. In the code that I play: it’s all
about getting bigger, faster and stronger and the collisions
are getting bigger. They are trying to
keep the ball in play more in rugby
union, like they do in rugby league so
it’s going to be quicker. There is more
scope for those concussions to happen.
There is always going to be those
issues, it’s just how we manage them
and the education process around it.
Hans Westerbeek:
We’ll come back to
the future of the game a bit later, but
for now we’ll go back and ask Ryan
to say something about the “here and
now”. What we are doing now that you feel is ok and ticks the
box, and what is still there to be done in the very near future?
Ryan Kohler:
It’s a pretty broad question in a way: it depends
on which level you’re looking at. I just wonder if the
professional codes are now going to be a lot more diligent
and vigilant in determining what the exact function of one of
their contracted players is while that player is on their watch
and in a way, practice defensive medicine. At the community
level, obviously there’s a lot to be done. My view is that those
kinds of services should be available to anyone. There is no
difference in the value of someone’s brain whether you are 8
or 28 years old with a million dollar contract. There’s going to
be a lot more interest in the research into what the outcomes
are in retired players and at this point there are case studies to
give some indication that there is a concern and there certainly
should be more research done. However there are a lot of
limitations and one has to be a bit cautious before you jump
to conclusions and say that repetitive brain trauma results in
dementia and those kind of long term psychiatric disorders.
It’s a bit premature for that as we haven’t controlled the risk
factors that go with sport: alcohol use etc. There’s certainly
enough if you look into it, but it’s a case of “watch this space”.
Hans Westerbeek:
(To David) The interesting connection to
an organisation like Sportscover is that you insure for the risk,
you want to minimise the risk, and you look at the effect that
you can have on setting standards and informing the industry
at large of how such a process can take place. Can you give us
a broad outline of how an insurer deals with an issue such as
concussion?
David Lamb:
I’m not a professor of medicine, I’m not a Wallaby
although I’ve patted one once. I’m the insurance guy. I look at it
from an insurance angle. I work for a specialist sports company
so we understand what happens in this particular area. Let me
give you a bit of a landscape.
In August 2013 the NFL (United States National Football
League) settled a law suit with 4,800 players for $765 million.
The good news is that it hasn’t been approved but the bad
news is that it wasn’t enough. That particular law suit involved
players between the ages of 33 and 81. Not to be outdone, the
ice-hockey players launched a class action late in 2013 and
that matter is still going around. It’s not just a US issue though.
In the UK, a former medical adviser to the
IRB (International Rugby Board) categorically
stated that he thinks this (concussion) is
going to be a particular problem for rugby
union worldwide. In Australia we all saw that
harrowing interview with Greg Williams in
relation to the traumatic effects of repeated
concussions for him.
Again to give you some context, what many
people don’t realise is that Australia follows
the US in a legal sense. Australia is the
second most litigious country per capita
in the world on a per capita basis, only behind the US. If you
think 20 years ago – we didn’t have class actions here. 20 years
ago we didn’t have no win – no fee. Whatever happens in the
US generally comes here so if you want to be presiding over
the next James Hardie case, then do nothing with concussion.
If you want to get ahead of it now then take the right steps
in relation to dealing with that. If you think it’s a problem
for elite sports: think again. Our courts will look at what is
available in terms of best practise, and what is available
in terms of technology. So whilst you might be satisfied
that sideline measurements like SCAT3 (Sports Concussion
Assessment Tool) etc. , are occurring within the NRL, Australian
Rugby Union or the AFL, if you’re out there in the suburbs
or the country and you’re not adopting what’s available now
in terms of best practices in your sports then you’ve got a
problem. If you think it’s for the contacts sports like Union,
League and AFL: think again. Think about any sport where head
injury is part and parcel of the game. Think about snow sports
or horse racing, think about skateboarding or surfing, think
about cycling or martial arts. Any particular sports or leisure
activity where head injury is a predictable part of the game is
where you need to be right on top of your game in terms of
what you’re actually doing.
One of the things I’d like to pick up on what the guys are
saying is whilst there’s a lot of great work being done on the
sideline in terms of SCAT3 and assessing whether a player can
“In August 2013 the
NFL settled a law suit
with 4,800 players for
$765 million... but it
wasn’t enough”.