Concussions have been in the headlines again through this season so far.  The fate of Tua has led those headlines and have led to officials focussing on the issue even more – and rightly so.

It’s not just the NFL that is affected by concussion issues.  On this side of the Atlantic we’re increasingly hearing about it in rugby.  This article appeared on the BBC recently speaking about the increased chances of long term degenerative brain diseases that professional rugby players face in later life.  There’s also more and more information coming out about the dangers faced by footballers (soccer!) headering the ball throughout their careers.

It’s not unreasonable to think that there are many other sports where frequent impacts on the head will also lead to severe problems in later life – ice hockey being one not to mention boxing and UFC of course (but then, you’d think they’d know of the risks!)

In such an urgent matter, I would love to see more sports combine to carry out wider investigations.  The quoted article above talks about football (soccer) funding the research which has been applied to rugby but why don’t we see the NFL combine with FIFA, World Rugby and the NHL to do a thorough investigation.

If sports don’t find out why this happens or change the rules to prevent it then we’ll simply see them begin to wither and die.  Parents won’t want their children taking part in sports where injuries now and in later life are so apparent.