Mouritz Botha: “Being able to play 6 days post-concussion doesn’t make sense.”
This article is an extract from www.news24.com
Former Saracens and England second row Mauritz Botha has said rugby risks becoming unsustainable if the risks around concussion are not managed successfully.
Botha, who played 10 times for England, was forced into retirement by concussions in September 2017.
He told Sport24: “I had concussion, which took a long time to recover from, and I was ultimately told by medical professionals that it would be in my best interests to retire.
“The spate of concussions in the game coupled with early-onset dementia is very worrying. I believe that if we don’t manage the associated risks, the sport will suffer as a consequence because parents won’t want their children playing and the game will become unsustainable.
“In terms of the legal matters, I wouldn’t like to speculate as to whether Carl Hayman and the other former players can win their case against World Rugby, but someone should be held accountable because there weren’t enough protocols involved.
“Players were stumbling around when they took a knock to the head, yet weren’t taken off the field. Even now, six days post-concussion they can play again which just doesn’t make sense to me.
“To offer an analogy, if you have people designing smartphones you should have people making decisions about withdrawing concussed players from the field. The reason you need protocols in place is because the player is not at all in a position to make the decision for his own benefit.
“That decision needs to be taken out of the players’ hands because we are all committed and want to do the best for the team and not leave the field. As such, that decision should never be with the player.”