A group of former rugby players are this week issuing proceedings against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union over what they claim is failure to protect them from permanent injury caused by repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows.
The class action, which will be the biggest of its kind outside of the US, has been announced by Rylands Law on behalf of numerous professional and semi-professional rugby union players who are affected by various irreversible neurological impairments. These include early onset dementia, probable CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease.
All of the players involved in the action are in their 30s, 40s and 50s. The progression of the lawsuit, which was first announced back in December 2020, comes after former Wales captain Ryan Jones revealed last week that he has been diagnosed with brain damage at the age of 41 and would be joining the legal action.
Read next: Ryan Jones suing WRU and World Rugby after devastating dementia diagnosis
Rylands represents over 185 rugby union players with brain damage, as well as 75 players in rugby league as part of a separate potential claim.
Those 185 players, professional and semi-professional, are moving ahead with their legal action this week. WalesOnline understands that a claim involving amateur players and women will proceed at a later date.
The claimants raise a number of allegations in their legal action. Among these they cite the alleged failure by the rugby authorities to take proper steps when the game turned professional to respond to a disregard for player safety and brain health. The alleged failure to provide adequate steps to inform, educate or warn the claimants about the risks of permanent brain damage is also raised.
So too is a claim over no steps being taken to reduce the amount of contact allowed in training and the number of matches per year, as well as alleged failures over devising new rules to limit the number of replacements.
As well as Jones, a number of high-profile former players have spoken about their experiences of being diagnosed with early onset dementia in the past couple of years. Former Wales No. 8 Alix Popham and ex-Dragons centre Adam Hughes have talked in depth about their struggles. You can read Popham's account here, while Hughes' own harrowing story of being diagnosed with brain damage at the age of 30 is available to read here.
Other former players such as ex-England hooker Steve Thompson, Dan Scarbrough, Carl Hayman, Neil Clark, Jason Hobson, Lenny Woodard, Neil Spence and Michael Lipman have all come forward. WalesOnline have previously reported that six of the original 10 test cases, including Popham and Hughes, are Welsh - with some not yet choosing to go public with their diagnosis.
We now understand the number of former Welsh professionals involved to be around 50.
In a statement, Rylands Law said: "CTE is the disease discovered by Dr Benet Omalu in American football player Mike Webster and is the subject of the movie, Concussion, starring Will Smith. It is a cruel and progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in many players of contact sports leading to repetitive brain trauma. These players include such well-known names as Aaron Hernandez (NFL), Jeff Astle (football), Shane Tuck (Aussie Rules), Peter Jones (rugby union) and Derek Boogaard (NHL).
"We are seeing the same worrying symptoms in numerous cases across both codes of rugby. These symptoms include chronic depression, aggression, significant memory loss, incontinence, drug and alcohol addiction, and, in some cases, suicide attempts.
"This claim isn’t just about financial compensation; it is also about making the game safer and ensuring current and former players get tested so that if they have a brain injury they can get the clinical help they need.
"The players we represent love the game. We aim to challenge the current perceptions of the governing bodies, to reach a point where they accept the connection between repetitive blows to the head and permanent neurological injury and to take steps to protect players and support those who are injured."
Richard Boardman, the lawyer who will be leading the legal action on behalf of Rylands, recently told the Daily Mail that the sport was facing a "ticking time bomb". He emphasised in that same interview that the vast majority of players involved in the lawsuit don't want to harm the game, but want to make it a safer sport.
A World Rugby spokesperson, contacted before the announcement was made public, said: "As of Sunday afternoon, World Rugby has not been issued with a legal claim. It would be inappropriate to comment until we have received the formal details of any action being taken."
The Press Association report sources indicated the WRU felt it "impossible" to comment having not seen details of the claim. The RFU has also been contacted for comment.
Those three governing bodies had released a joint statement in December 2020 in response to the initial claim. Since then, they have chosen not to comment on the legal action.
They did stress, however, that player welfare was their priority.
“We have been deeply saddened to hear the brave personal accounts from former players," read the statement at the time.
“As a result of scientific knowledge improving, rugby has developed its approach to concussion surveillance, education, management and prevention across the whole game.
“We have implemented coach, referee and player education and best practice protocols across the game and rugby’s approach to head injury assessments and concussion protocols has been recognised and led to many other team sports adopting our guidance.
“We will continue to use medical evidence and research to keep evolving our approach. As with any potential legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment on the specifics.”
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