Rugby: concussion victims sue federation and league

Historical move. At least for France. A group of about fifteen players will file administrative appeals for failures to meet their security and information obligations by the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and the National Rugby League (NRL), according to L’Équipe, which released the information. All of these players were victims of repeated blows to the head while playing in France.

This is the first time that the FFR and the LPR have been attacked in this way, two years after an international federation (World Rugby), as well as the English and Welsh federations, were subjected to complaints filed by a hundred players.

Two French applicants

The French movement is carried out by the law firm Alekto. Among these fifteen plaintiffs we find the vast majority of foreign players, Welshman Alix Popham and Englishman Steve Thompson, who was overtaken by Brive, former New Zealand Toulon pillar Carl Heyman, second line Canadian Jamie Cudmore (Clermont). The only two Frenchmen to have taken the field are Quentin Garcia, former Chambéry prostitute, and Sarah Schlagu, former Stade Rennes second line.

The plaintiffs are asking for drastic preventive action and a reduction in the number of headbutts, whether in matches or in training. The current minimum rest period is six days as recommended by the Concussion In Sport Group. The plaintiffs want to extend it to three weeks.

France has a concussion protocol in place during matches that has reduced players left on the field after being electrocuted to the head from 30% to 10%. “Almost all of our clients have returned to the pitch during league matches or training sessions when they shouldn’t have,” says Nino Arno, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

Dementia sufferers Alix Popham or Carl Heyman have received more than a hundred harmful blows to the head in their careers, according to the British Institute of Dementia.