TV campaign to highlightrisks of concussion in rugby

AS THE Rugby World Cup gets under way, one of Ireland’s leading authorities on sports injuries is spearheading a drive to highlight the dangers of concussion in rugby by setting up an expert group to examine the effects, and through a TV advertising campaign.

Professor Mick Molloy, former chief medical advisor to the International Rugby Board (IRB), is drawing together a team of brain specialists, including neurologists and neurosurgeons, as well as rugby team doctors, to study concussion in depth, with the aim of publishing scientifically based research examining potential long-term consequences.

A report to be presented today will say that internationally, concussion rates of 5%-25% of all injuries have been reported. There are no published reports of concussion incidence in Ireland, despite the fact that an estimated 100,000 play in the sport here.

“We plan to look at the situation in detail to help minimise the risk to players and prevent potential long-term consequences of repetitive head injury,” said Prof Molloy, a former Irish international and Irish team doctor for 20 years. Prof Molloy, who co-authored the international document that forms the backbone of the IRB’s new guidelines on concussion, rolled out in May, feels the guidelines do not go far enough.

Prof Molloy, acting chair of the Faculty of Exercise and Sports Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, said a “Mind Your Head” TV campaign was planned, using high-profile sportsmen in an effort to highlight the dangers of concussion.

Today, at the faculty’s annual scientific conference in Dublin, Prof Molloy chairs a debate on concussion, at which the findings of a number of papers will be presented, including concussion occurrence and knowledge in Irish rugby union and a study of concussion in elite youth players.

The IRB said it intends to roll out an education programme by the end of the year.