Jack Anderson: Why concussion means we all need to get our head in the game

Conflating concussion in sport to a matter of public health carries with it the risk of letting individual sports off the hook.

FULL ON: Clare’s Shane O'Donnell and Diarmaid Byrnes of Limerick collide in what was a full-blooded game in Ennis last weekend. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

Fri, 08 May, 2026 - 06:55

Jack Anderson

Jack Anderson is a professor of sports law and global expert in governance, and regulation. He advises sporting bodies and contributes widely to public debate – as well as being a Limerick hurling supporter.

Last week the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport held a hearing to consider the long-term effects of repetitive head injuries in retired athletes.

The standout expert evidence came from Colin Doherty, a professor at the school of medicine at Trinity College Dublin. He referred to research from Trinity and St James’s Hospital which showed that a number of retired athletes who suffered repetitive head blows while playing sport later demonstrated persistent disruption of the protective blood-flow barrier around their brain.