Protect players with new concussion subs, says Fogarty

FORMER Leinster hooker John Fogarty believes players should be allowed to leave the field in order to be assessed for concussion.

The Tipperary man, who retired from the game last month because of head injuries, feels there should be a rule similar to the blood substitution introduced to protect players.

Doctors are often forced to make snap judgments on the pitch, with players keen to get back into the action.

And Fogarty — capped by Ireland last summer before repeated headaches forced him to quit — reckons a substitution would allow medics the time to properly assess the injuries.

“There needs to be something done in the sport to assess players better on the pitch,” he said.

“They should look at possibly taking players off the pitch for a minute or two. A brain bin — it sounds awful but something like this is not a bad idea. A player can be assessed properly because a player who is down just wants to get back in quickly.”

And Munster’s Denis Leamy, who joined his fellow Cashel man at the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) launch of the Guide to Brain Injury, yesterday agreed with the call, saying: “If it can be done for a blood injury why can’t it be done for a suspected concussion?”

He continued: “Maybe somebody’s just dizzy or dazed. It’s happened to anyone who has played rugby, you get a knock and you are rattled for a few minutes and you then can play on.

“But the doctors should be given the time to make that assessment.”

Fogarty and former Leinster teammate Bernard Jackman have highlighted the issue in recent weeks after their retirements from the game. The ex-Connacht man reckons his tackling technique led to a lot of the damage he sustained and he thinks coaches often neglect this important skill.

“For me it was always about tackling,” he said. “It is important that they focus on tackling from a young age and they follow through their career so they don’t get into bad habits. If coaches, parents and teachers can get the message to their players, that’s the important thing.”

And while he misses the game, especially watching Heineken Cup clashes like Leinster’s visit to Clermont last weekend, Fogarty knows the decision he made to call time on his career was the right one.

“I never thought about it the whole way through my career and that’s probably why I’m now retired, on the scrapheap. It’s hard.

“The Heineken Cup weeks are brilliant. There is such a good atmosphere around them and there is some part of you that’s disappointed you can’t be involved.

“But I’m glad I’m not getting bangs on the head because it got too much in the end. My attitude completely changed — from taking a bang to the head and thinking it wasn’t much of an issue for me, to taking it seriously.”