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South Africa’s 2019 Rugby World Cup success (day 403 of 1 449 as world champions, by the way) has secured the squad members and staff a place in rugby immortality, further cemented by the superb Chasing the Sun.

A lifetime of hard work and sacrifice, with some of our players overcoming extreme obstacles en route to glory, handsomely rewarded.

If you ask 42-year-old English World Cup winner Steve Thompson, who you can see celebrating the 2003 win above, the sacrifices you make during your career may be just the start of the battle, with the former hooker being diagnosed with early onset dementia.

Thompson says he cannot even remember winning the World Cup, adding that he regrets ever taking it up the sport.

In a lengthy interview, he went on to speak about experiencing mood swings, having panic attacks, withdrawing socially, and sometimes even struggling to remember his wife’s name.

He’s one of a group of eight former players, all under the age of 45, who are proposing to bring legal proceedings against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union in England, and the Welsh Rugby Union, in what could be “potentially landmark legal action for the sport”.

More from the Guardian:

All the players have received the same diagnosis – dementia with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), for which the only known cause is repeated blows to the head. CTE can be diagnosed for certain only by a post-mortem dissection of the brain.

Richard Boardman of Rylands Law, representing the players, claims there is a “ticking timebomb” of players who are developing symptoms as they reach their 40s and 50s. They anticipate the first eight are the test cases in a potential group litigation order.

On top of those eight players, there are three others who may soon sign up, and Boardman is in contact with more than 100 players, across rugby union and rugby league codes, who are also reporting symptoms.

This video explainer breaks the situation down really well:

With rugby having gone professional in the mid-1990s, we’re only now seeing the results of players who spent their entire careers as paid athletes.

One stat that illustrates the increasingly physical nature of the game – there was an average of 257 tackles per game at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which is 163 more per game than 1987, when the first World Cup was held.

Their [the players’] claim is that the governing bodies have failed in their duty of care, having not acted upon the known risks of head injury, particularly after professionalism led to a clear intensification in the sport’s dynamics.

In response to the recent media coverage, World Rugby offered this statement:

“While not commenting on speculation, World Rugby takes player safety very seriously and implements injury-prevention strategies based on the latest available knowledge, research and evidence.”

The English Rugby Football Union gave this on the record response:

“The RFU has had no legal approach on this matter. The Union takes player safety very seriously and implements injury prevention and injury treatment strategies based on the latest research and evidence.

“The Union has played an instrumental role in establishing injury surveillance, concussion education and assessment, collaborating on research as well as supporting law changes and law application to ensure proactive management of player welfare.”

All of that is good and well, but if the latest evidence and research continues to point to a situation where former players are at far more significant risk of dementia and other head trauma health complications, what changes will be made?

The legal battle brought forward by the eight players, and any other former players who subsequently join, could well have far-reaching implications for the game of rugby.

[source:guardian]