SA footy players face 21-day stand down time, helmets back on agenda in landmark concussion crackdown

The AFL’s concussion crackdown could extend to SA’s state and community leagues, with a landmark change being explored to also make every player wear a helmet.

Junior players wearing helmets during matches in Victoria. Picture: Ian Currie

Every footy player in South Australia outside the AFL could soon have to stand down for at least 21 days if they suffer a concussion, after the governing body announced a landmark new policy for state and community leagues.

The South Australian Football Commission will quickly meet to discuss whether it adopts the league’s new concussion protocols for every competition outside the AFL.

Released on Wednesday, ahead of Opening Round beginning between Sydney and Melbourne on Thursday evening – the league announced that all AFL and AFLW players will still be under a mandatory 12-day return to play policy if they suffer a concussion.

The league said this was because of the “Advanced Care Settings” in the AFL system for players who have suffered a concussion.

But the big change comes for every footballer outside of the AFL.

In what the league labelled as a “landmark decision” all competitions outside of the AFL will adopt a mandatory minimum 21-day return to play protocol.

It follows on from the Australian Institute of Sport earlier this year recommending a minimum 21-day rest period for community and junior sport across Australia.

The AFL announced that the VFL and VFLW would already adopt these new guidelines, and it would be implemented in elite pathway competitions and in all community football competitions.

Brad Ebert of the Power is taken from the ground after suffering a concussion during a match on October 16, 2020. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The AFL has urged the South Australian and Western Australian Football Commissions to adopt its “important benchmark position” of requiring all players outside of the elite level to be bound to the 21-day protocol.

The SA Football Commission will soon meet to consider the new protocols, but it is expected that the AFL’s new protocols for all state league and community competitions will be adopted across the board.

Under the new guidelines the earliest all SA players outside the AFL can return to play after suffering a concussion is on the 21st day post the concussion incident provided they get medical clearance.

AFL General Counsel Stephen Meade said it showed the league took the issue of concussion extremely seriously.

“The AFL’s concussion guidelines are the most stringent concussion protocols in Australian sport both at a community and elite level and we are committed to continuing to take action to protect the safety of players at all levels of the game.” Mr Meade said.

Angus Brayshaw recently retired from the AFL after multiple concussions. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

“The updated community guidelines represent a significant step in the AFL’s existing record of ongoing improvements to its concussion management strategy that reflect medical research and other learnings over time.

“We play a contact sport and there is always going to be risk, however over recent years we have continued to take action to strengthen match-day protocols and amend the Laws of the Game to discourage high contact, and we will continue to do so,

“We continue to listen and learn from the medical and scientific professionals and take action to deal with the important topic of concussion and player safety.

“While there are risks of injury in our sport, we will continue to act to reduce and manage those risks, and there are also many very significant physical and mental health benefits of playing our great game.”

Adelaide and Port Adelaide-listed players playing in the SANFL and SANFLW who suffer a concussion at that level will be under the AFL’s minimum 12-day policy because they can be managed under the “Advanced Care Settings” of an AFL club.

Last month this masthead revealed that Adelaide Footy League research showed paid players lied about concussion symptoms for fear of missing out on income.

Concussion is widely accepted to be the biggest issue facing the AFL, with the league facing a major class action by 100 players regarding their management of it.

The league will argue in the Victorian Supreme Court that ““the clubs, as the AFL players’ employers, along with the AFL players themselves”, are primarily responsible for players’ health and wellbeing”.

It will also argue the players knew, and accepted, the risks inherent in playing a professional contact sport.