Professor Allyson Pollock and Graham Kirkwood, from Newcastle University, said that governments had ‘a duty to protect children from risks of injury and to ensure safety of children’ under a United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 19).
Professor Pollock said: “We call on the chief medical officers to act on the evidence and advise the UK government to put the interests of the child before those of corporate professional rugby unions and remove harmful contact from the school game.”
Headway has provided a cautious reaction to the calls, welcoming the research but stopping short of backing calls for a complete ban on contact rugby in schools. Rather, the charity believes the focus must remain on better coaching and greater awareness of concussion, while calling for other key measures to be introduced such as mandatory concussion training for both P.E and classroom teachers.
“It is important that we continue to further our understanding of the risks of playing contact sport,” said Peter McCabe, Chief Executive of Headway. “The authors of this article raise a number of valid points and any research into the short and long-term effects of concussions has to be welcomed.
“However, it is important that we take a holistic approach to this issue and guard against any unintended consequences of implementing a ban on contact rugby in schools.
“Sport plays a key role in keeping us fit and health, while team sports can instil discipline and teamwork ethics. It is important to also recognise that we cannot mitigate all risk from life. Rather, it is about managing those risks.
“As such, we have to be careful to not discourage people from participating in responsible contact sports that have rules in place to prevent or reduce the risk of head injuries.
“There is certainly scope to look very closely at the way rugby is taught in schools. For example, the concept of graduated introduction of contact should be explored further, in addition to ideas such as classing players according to their size or weight, rather than age.
“We know that the tackle is a key danger area when it comes to concussion in rugby. Often, the person making the tackle is at the greatest risk and so the focus must be on ensuring all children are taught how to tackle properly.
“Teaching children at an early age will not only help to reduce injuries on the school playing field, but will also ensure they are adequately prepared to play club rugby either at youth or adult level.
“This requires all sports teachers to have the appropriate skills and training, without exception.”
In addition to all sports teachers and club coaches being forced to undergo training in tackling techniques, Headway is calling for all teachers – both sport and academic – to be given mandatory concussion awareness training.
“Collisions will always occur when children are playing, whether in the playground or on a sport’s field,” said Peter. “It is vital, therefore, that all teachers are aware of the signs of concussion.
“This includes classroom teachers having an understanding of some of the delayed signs of concussion that can occur many hours after the initial injury, such as drowsiness or problems in concentrating, which could be misinterpreted.
“In the meantime, we must continue to raise awareness and understanding of concussion to ensure people take an ‘if in doubt, sit it out!’ approach."
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