Attitudes to concussion need ‘culture change’

A tendency to "brush under the carpet" likely concussion injuries suffered in sport needs to be changed, a conference was told yesterday.

Shane Mooney, the IRFU’s first aid and injury prevention co-ordinator, said concussion in rugby was one of the most complex injuries to diagnose and people involved with teams needed to be educated about it.

He said a serious change in attitude is needed and players should leave the pitch if there’s any concern after getting a knock on the head. “There’s a huge culture change required and we need to get to a stage where a person who goes back onto a pitch with an obvious head injury is booed rather cheered.”