On June 2, we attended a rugby match, which was the Finale du Top 14. The atmosphere was electric and so many people came out to support their favorite team. While enjoying the fast-paced game and the zeal of the French crowd in the stadium, we completed our assignment of tracking a selected player’s head impacts throughout the game. The idea was to examine the danger of high-level rugby compared to sports with which we were more familiar with in the United States.
That week, we were learning of the potential long-term consequences of repeated concussion. We were specifically analyzing the work of Decq et al. (2016) on rugby players over 20 years after their career ended. We realized the danger that a sport like rugby can place the brain in, which may be counterintuitive because I have often heard rugby pitched as a “safer” alternative to American football. While at this game we got to have an inside look at a sport that is a major part of French culture, but we also witnessed firsthand the similar danger in which the rugby players put themselves for our entertainment.
It was also interesting to notice that players received a very small break in between halves. Halftime was so short that they had the musical artist (MIKA) perform after the show instead of at halftime. This must have interesting implications for the players’ health. The game was extremely fast-paced and enjoyable to watch, especially when someone would break away with the ball and the whole stadium would just erupt.
It is sad to think that, after their careers, the players we watched at the game would be much more likely to be depressed, have chronic headaches, and even have problems with cognition (Decq et al. 2016). It seemed clear to us while watching the game that having a bunch of athletes tackle you and pile on top of you when you are not really wearing any protective equipment was not the brightest idea. Compared to American sports, the medics ran on to the field to help players extremely often. Over and over, players would lie barely moving on to the field and gameplay would be stopped so they could be evaluated. After doing the research we have, I look forward to seeing further regulations put in place to protect the brains of rugby players.
References
Decq, P., Gault, N., Blandeau, M., Kerdraon, T., Berkal, M., ElHelou, A., Dusfour, B., & Peyrin, J. (2016). Long-term consequences of recurrent sports concussion.Acta Neurochir (Wien), 158(2), 289-300. doi: 10.1007/s00701-015-2681-4