I played rugby in high school, and I was surprised at how much you don't hit your head intentionally like you do in American football. You use your shoulders, torso, and arms, or at least that is how we were trained. Sure, you hit your head occasionally, but sometimes in a maul you find yourself clasping your hands behind your head in a maul to guard the ball against the opposition, while your team tries to hook the ball out of your stomach side, while you are laying down in a fetal position on the pitch!<p>I still think American football players maximize power off the line, feel protected by helmets and shoulder pads, and basically create a more powerful jolt when they hit heads instead of shoulder pads. When you're not wearing a helmet, you tend to become better at protecting your head against intentional hits.<p>Then again Garryownens can result in being hit like a freight train if you decide to catch it!
I played rugby for years and had a constant, mild headache the entire time. Went abroad for five months so I took a break, and I couldn't believe how good I felt. I had forgotten what it felt like for my brain not to hurt.<p>Needless to say, I never played again.
It's interesting to see that this issue is rather controversial within the Rugby/NFL world, whereas other sports it's almost a given?<p>Boxing, for example, has pretty damaging long-term side-effects with notable legends dying prematurely. But nobody is really making Hollywood movies about it (like Concussions starring Will Smith). I wonder whether Rugby/NFL is just headed towards the direction of these sort of consequences becoming accepted as being 'part of the sport'.
I’ve been following concussions in sports for while as part of a company I’m launching soon (<a href="https://ocula.ai" rel="nofollow">https://ocula.ai</a>) - it’s seriously scary stuff now that longer term, validated studies are beginning to be published - it’s worth noting NFL powered through its allocated funds for concussion payouts of $0.5B almost a decade ahead of schedule (<a href="https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/10056496" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/10056...</a>) and there’s many more on the way…
I played rugby for a few seasons, and I had several concussions. I never blacked out, but I temporarily lost my ability to speak (several minutes), as well as got emotional. I cried though I wasn't upset, then I would get enraged even though I wasn't mad at anything (except maybe getting a concussion).<p>I'm in my 30s now, and I can't remember things like I used to. I can be thinking of something, and it "just disappears". I feel like my mind behaves like a 65 year old, not a 30-something. I used to have a lot more focus, more dedication to certain things, and it's harder now.<p>I don't know what combination of growing older, drinking, or concussions have caused my issues. And it's hard to say I regret playing, because it was fun and a part of who I am. However, concussions are not a joke, and I wish more players had the sense to step away from the game after getting a small number, rather than thinking "it's normal" and playing for 20-30 years.
I played rugby and actively follow it and football but it's harder and harder to grapple with the long term consequences of these sports as more information about damage especially from sub-concussion level impacts comes out. It's hard to imagine but I think the NFL will have a serious reckoning over the next 10-20 years unless they can fix this somehow
Reminds me of John Urschel, MIT mathematician who quit his NFL career because he was afraid of possible brain damage. Looks like he finished his PhD in 2021 [0]. Congrats!<p>Apparently, Urschel had suffered a concussion a few years before his decision [1, 2]. There was also an interesting, semi-related HN thread about football and brain trauma earlier [3].<p>0: <a href="https://math.mit.edu/~urschel/" rel="nofollow">https://math.mit.edu/~urschel/</a><p>1: <a href="https://archive.is/RG9tg" rel="nofollow">https://archive.is/RG9tg</a><p>2: <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2019/student-john-urschel-math-football-0515" rel="nofollow">https://news.mit.edu/2019/student-john-urschel-math-football...</a><p>4: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16291827" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16291827</a>
I'm in the US and had sort of a reckoning against out football a few years ago after a medical incident of mine. I used to be a big watcher of the NFL, mostly because my team was really good, but suddenly I had trouble watching week after week guys getting drilled in the head and being carted off to have their career ends. These league average numbers [1] are horrible to think about, with how little tie running backs play when they're able to make money (screw the NCAA) and they get hit every play.<p>One of the arguments on a change that could help is a big transition back to old school leather helmets, or no helmets. There's been much talk about safety of rugby compared to football, especially from armchair thinkers [2]. Some of the answers in that Quora thread are agreeing with the result of this article, where rugby isn't exactly that much safer regardless of lack of helmet or tackling style. Heck even soccer is having to come to terms with headers causing head injuries later in life [3].<p>With more "lower" impact sports like rugby (not that much lower, but has been considered lower) and soccer coming out with so much head injury reports, I wonder how long we'll be stuck with popularity of the NFL. Brett Favre, a quarterback from the south, came out and said to not have kids play tackle until they're 14. But when they turn 14? It's not like that risk goes away.<p>I'm lucky for myself that I like watching baseball and basketball the most so I don't have to think deal with watching head injuries that last lifetimes for the players. Or maybe that's why I like watching those two team sports the most.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-career-length-in-the-national-football-league/" rel="nofollow">https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-ca...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.quora.com/Would-the-NFL-or-football-in-general-be-safer-if-there-were-no-pads-or-helmets" rel="nofollow">https://www.quora.com/Would-the-NFL-or-football-in-general-b...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/01/512848122/with-concussion-risk-in-soccer-headers-may-kick-it-up-a-notch" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/01/5128481...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028547803/brett-favre-kids-football-14-cte" rel="nofollow">https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028547803/brett-favre-kids-f...</a>
Football and Rugby get a lot of attention but soccer also has major issues with heading the ball for low impact and major head injuries when people accidentally hit heads. In America girl's soccer is actually a close 2nd place finisher to boys football when it comes to diagnosed concussions
I was required to take Rugby in school, but I engaged at the minimum level possible: I was sent off once by the coach for failing to make physical contact with other players. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.
I don't know why it's not more of a mainstream opinion to try to make these sports as unpopular as possible or to straight up make them illegal to play in how ever many official settings as you can manage, including highschools at the very least.<p>It's very fucking bad, everyone knows this. I don't know how long it will take for people to get it.
My experience with high school rugby was that head impacts were exceedingly rare. Lots of bruises, though. The showers after a game were loud, with kids screaming their pain away.<p>I stopped in college because I didn't have time (or will) for the gym, and it suddenly wasn't fun to play against people several years older than you. I imagine American football would be much worse in terms because of the external protection provided by the padding and helmets. It hurts more to hit skin to skin, so you don't do it so much, and when you do, it's carefully. But in older age, and professional settings, I imagine things are different.
> players saw a decline in blood flow to the brain and cognitive function - the ability to ... perform mental gymnastics.<p>Avoiding mental gymnastics can't be a bad thing, right?
<i>Professional</i> rugby. This isn't going to be a typical outcome for you or me.<p>I play rec league rugby and find that it's a great way to stay in shape and meet new people. More people would be healthy if we encouraged people to continue to play sports throughout life, including contact sports.
The emergent research about CTE in what are upper-middle class sports in the US like soccer and rugby are ironically going to be an effective shield for the NFL, because there's no way American suburbanites are going to allow a little brain damage to force them to limit their European affectations.