Head Noise: Peter FitzSimons revives old feud with James Graham
NRL great James Graham ‘astonished’ by the columnist’s move to use an event to support athletes over concussion to challenge his views.
NRL great James Graham has been left “astonished” by columnist Peter FitzSimons’s decision to use an event to support athletes and families suffering the aftershocks of concussion to instead repeatedly challenge the ex-St George player over his evolving views.
The launch event for the Australian arm of the Concussion Legacy Foundation – which supports players who suffer the impact of head blows around the world – was supposed to amplify awareness of the effects of concussion as Graham is exploring in Head Noise, his podcast with The Australian. Instead, FitzSimons used a wider panel discussion on concussion to revive his past feud with the NRL great over head blows in rugby league, and repeatedly questioned Graham’s “role model” status to young rugby league players and his past stance on players continuing to compete despite being injured.
FitzSimons pressed Graham on his statement that “maybe for me, the meaning of life was finding something worth dying for. Was that rugby league?”.
A shocked Graham told The Australian he was stunned the Concussion Legacy Panel discussion became a debate that focused solely on “me and him”.
“I am astonished he attempted to make it about me and him,” said Graham, who is hosting The Australian’s chart-topping podcast investigation Head Noise. “I was hoping to talk about the Concussion Legacy Foundation being launched in Australia; however, Peter wanted to dig up the past. I am in shock.”
In a 30-minute discussion, moderated by CLF chief Chris Nowinski visiting from the US, FitzSimons relentlessly questioned Graham’s concussion views. “May I ask a question … I think it was on NRL360, you said something like, well look, to not show weakness to the opposition, just to make it look like I didn’t care, and you also said, really strong comments and Benji Marshall was shocked and you said ‘look, I have to find a purpose in life and maybe to find something worth dying for.”
“You said that you prioritised the present over the future the idea that you went super hard at football now, even if that was going to damage the future. Do you stand by those remarks now?”
Graham replied: “I am not going to betray my former self. That’s who I was.”
FitzSimons kept pushing Graham on his previous statements on concussion, whether if he had his time over he would conduct his football career differently and his role-model status with young footballers. “But knowing what you know now, that you didn’t know at 22, you’re a wise head, you’re a veteran, you are respected, if you did have a chance to talk to a 22-year-old, and knowing he would listen?” FitzSimons said.
Graham interrupted: “That’s it, that’s my point, he wouldn’t. I know who I was, I know myself, very well.”
FitzSimons said: “As a thought experiment, say he did listen to you. If I was a 22-year-old league player and James Graham took me aside, of course I would listen. The question is, respectfully, knowing what you know now, and in a thought experiment the 22-year-old is going to listen. Would you say, ‘pull back if you get hurt?’ Don’t pretend you’re not hurt? Put your hand up and get off the field immediately”.
Graham replied: “Peter what you are asking for is a simple answer to what is a complex question.” While the pair shook hands and embraced afterwards, the tension in the room was at times palpable. Graham said he was hoping for a proactive debate on the issue.
In 2019, FitzSimons and Graham first came to loggerheads after the then-St George footballer’s statement that said he was prepared to accept the risk of head knocks to play the game he loved.
“The consequences of that are sometimes you get hit on the head,” Graham said in 2019. “You’ve got to go and play Oztag if you don’t fancy playing league any more.” FitzSimons took exception and penned a column labelling Graham’s thoughts “outrageous” and that they downplayed the seriousness of concussion.
“Time and again … I’d see you knocked motherless and still stay on,” FitzSimons wrote. “One time, you outright refused to leave the field, when a trainer told you the coach wanted you off, yes?
“That kind of resilience and will to win is one thing. But your comments downgrading the whole importance of the concussion issue are another. Hence why I write now. Champion, you just don’t get it. Not the first clue.”
Graham was moved to release a statement via his then-club the St George Dragons. “I’m actually appalled by you paraphrasing my words ‘basically, getting smashed in the head and getting on with it anyway is what goes with football’,” Graham wrote.
“Sorry NO! I didn’t say that, mate. Complete fiction. If you think I said that, maybe you are the one that needs assessing.”
In the lengthy statement, Graham accused FitzSimons of being “condescending” and claimed his article had “glaring errors”.
Graham said he took “neurodegeneration and long-term brain diseases incredibly seriously.”
In the time since FitzSimons has repeatedly called for some of the NRL’s most prolific footballers to retire.
In 2020, he wrote an opinion piece calling for Roosters captain Boyd Cordner, who had suffered a spate of concussions, to quit.
The headline read: “To hell with finals, retirement should be the next stop for Cordner”. He recently called for Roosters star Luke Keary to pull the pin after yet another head knock.
Nowinski, a former gridiron footballer turned WWE wrestler who suffered numerous concussions during his career, has become an advocate for athletes and their families. On Wednesday night, he launched the Australian chapter of the Concussion Legacy foundation in Sydney. He also unveiled the global campaign “Stop Hitting Kids In The Head”.
Nowinski said medical evidence showed there should be no tackling in junior sport before the age of 14. Nowinski showed an advertisement for the campaign showing kids wearing gridiron gear and smoking.
“We have to stop dressing up this dangerous activity as fun and games,” Nowinski said. “Kids tackling are going to get hit in the head … and those hits add up.”
He said the goal was to “eliminate repetitive head impacts by 2026” in soccer, American football, Australian football and rugby.
The CLF Australia has been launched in partnership with the Dr Michael Buckland-led Australian Sports Brain Bank.
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