Can the codes spin their way out of concussion and the risk of CTE?
The codes have been building the hype over the last month with PR strategies such playing in Las Vegas that would even impress Mad Men’s Don Draper.
But despite all the slick marketing and positive spin, even the Donald Drapers at the major codes have come unstuck on how to deal with the continuing spectre of brain injuries.
For example, the Australian Football League, who pretty much pioneered the idiom “the health and wellbeing of our athletes is our greatest priority”, in their defence of the class action led by Geelong favourite Max Rooke, stated the “clubs and players themselves” were responsible for their own health and wellbeing, and they knew all along that the risks of brain damage and disease were there when the players signed up to play.
And only this week we saw the “helmet-gate” fiasco where the AFL apparently mentioned they were going to trial helmets for juniors and community players to protect against concussion, despite decades and the AFL’s own experts reporting evidence helmets are ineffective. CEO Andrew Dillon had to hose down the uproar that ensured the next day.
A couple of weeks back, the Australian Institute of Sport released recommendations for concussed players to be rested from competitive sport for minimum 21 days. This, in my view, is a good recommendation as the independent science, showing brain recovery is longer than symptom resolution, has been well ahead of this for nearly a decade.
However, the AIS recommendations do not go far enough insofar that they give the professional leagues a “get out of jail card” by having these recommendations only for junior and community levels.
Their excuse is that professional players have are managed under Advanced Care Settings (whatever that means) so they only need a minimum of 12 days and not 21 days. Interesting to see that professional players’ brains are assumed to recover quicker than a club player’s brain because there is a doctor to see daily.
Consequently, this sets up a strange situation in that in second-tier Australian rules football (such as the VFL or NSWFL) players adhere to the 21 days, but AFL-listed players playing in these second-tier competitions will be under the minimum 12-day policy – just in case they need to front up to AFL duties.
In rugby league the situation is even stranger. A community player over the age of 18 will be under the 11-day NRL policy, but those junior (Under 18) will be subjected to 19 day stand down. This policy was enacted in November 2023.
Cue the spin doctors.
The reactionary nature of these sports who fall over each other to claim in their media releases that they have the most stringent protocols in the land is not only confusing but laughable. Despite the same rhetoric over the years, we are still seeing young players retire prematurely, devastated that they can longer play the sport that they love at any level. And we are seeing more young men and women dying with the horrible brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
In all of this confusion, it is CTE that has still not yet been addressed. The codes keep avoiding the elephant in the room but trying to run interference on the fact that CTE is a disease of exposure to repetitive sub-concussive impacts. A player does not need to have been concussed multiple times (or even once) to be at risk of CTE.
As can be seen this week, yes, the ‘footy is back’ to continue another year of the spectacle of sport entertainment, but so continues the brain injuries without serious concern to address the issue. If the codes were serious, then the concussion protocols would be consistent at all levels of the sports. The codes are on notice, we will be watching.
Professor Alan Pearce is with La Trobe University and is a non-executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Australia
Premiership race rocked by record-breaking Suns in QClash
Gold Coast have thrown a spanner in the top-eight mix with a crushing defeat of their crosstown rivals Brisbane. Get the reaction and details here.
Early Tackle: AFL HQ’s baffling contradiction a slap in the face
Whatever happened to northern exposure? After sticking with Opening Round despite fan backlash, an obvious fixturing call was butchered by the league. See the R20 likes and dislikes here.
It’s that time of the year again when we all get excited because “the footy is back!”