Wales, Racing Metro and Lions centre Jamie Roberts took time out of his club commitments to raise the profile of the ‘recognise and remove’ campaign launch held at Pontyclun Rugby Club, along with Wales assistant coach Rob Howley, WRU Head of Rugby Josh Lewsey and representatives of grassroots clubs in Wales who helped finalise the policy.
WRU National Medical Manager Prav Mathema, supported by the WRU Medical Advisory Committee has produced a Concussion Guidance document, which will be sent to all senior and junior sections of clubs in Wales, representative groups and affiliated bodies. This guidance will be sent along with a range of other, easy to read versions and promotional material, such as posters and z cards. The full resource will also be available online on a new section of the WRU website (wru.co.uk/medical).
The document, entitled Concussion, Recognise and Remove, outlines the signs, symptoms and some of the myths of concussion and encourages all involved in the game to adopt a zero tolerance attitude when it comes to incidences of suspected concussion.
The literature is clear and easy to read, and should enable anyone involved in rugby – parents, players, coaches, referees and volunteers – to recognise symptoms of suspected concussion and act accordingly.
Once any symptoms of concussion have been recognised in a player of any age or level of the game, the key message of the campaign is to permanently remove the player from the training session or match and refer them to a medical practitioner.
If concussion is diagnosed, a clear, graduated return to play programme is set out, with specific, age appropriate guidance for adults, children and teenagers, along with clear warnings for anyone suffering two or more concussions during a year.
WRU National Medical Manager, Prav Mathema, said: “This guidance represents a big step forward in supporting everyone involved with the game in Wales to identify and manage concussion symptoms.
“We want as many people as possible in every club to be aware of the guidance and advice so that it becomes a truly effective means of dealing with concussion.
“The guidance helps recognise concussion symptoms – and strongly advises referring any players suspected of suffering concussion to a medical practitioner before following a clear, graduated return to play programme.
Wales international centre Jamie Roberts offered his services as an ambassador of the new policy to encourage rugby clubs to fully engage with the new guidance immediately.
He said: “At the professional level we have excellent medical care, both on matchdays and during training periods. Rigorous, baseline testing is in force to ensure we don’t return to play before we are fully ready so it is vital we do as much as possible to ensure amateur players are also protected.
“The WRU guidance is easy to follow so players, referees, coaches and volunteers on the touchlines could all have a role to play in recognising symptoms and taking the appropriate action.
“We all know the positives of playing rugby from a health perspective and through the values it fosters and represents, so this guidance will no doubt prove to be a great tool in encouraging greater participation.”
Wales assistance coach Rob Howley added, “We know that the coach has a vital role to play in creating the culture of teams and clubs and I would appeal to all coaches at every level of the game in Wales to take this guidance very seriously when dealing with the matchday management of games.
WRU Head of Rugby Josh Lewsey said: “The welfare of players is vitally important for everyone involved in Welsh rugby. This guidance is easy to follow and will undoubtedly help to improve the well-being of thousands of players involved in rugby week in, week out, especially in the community game across Wales.
“We work hard to align our activities to the great work being achieved by the Welsh Government on physical literacy, health and education so this is a great example of us joining up our priorities.
“A great deal of high quality work has gone into creating this programme and we can be rightly proud of the calibre of the outcome.”
The WRU guidance has been prepared in line with IRB guidelines and with reference to the appropriately qualified medical advice.
To support medical research, a knowledge audit of key stakeholders has been carried out in the professional and semi-professional tiers of Welsh rugby by the WRU Medical Department and Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Sports Injury Research Group.
In addition to the concussion guidance which is being issued to all parties, the WRU has also ensured that compulsory concussion education is embedded into all referee, coach and pitchside training programmes delivered across Wales; all schools rugby officers will undergo concussion training, and the concussion section on the rugby specific first aid course devised by St John Cymru Wales in conjunction with the Welsh Rugby Union has been further strengthened. The WRU has provided funding for over 2 300 club volunteers to complete the course in the past two seasons – and numbers on the course are growing each year.
A community rugby online focus group, involving club volunteers from clubs like Bryncethin and Risca, was recruited to test the value of the advice being prepared to ensure it can be easily understood and followed.
Paul Watkin of Bryncethin RFC said, “The document is easy to read and helps us as community clubs to be as thorough as possible in ensuring the safety and well-being of our players.
“The guidance has already come in handy this season. We have qualified first aiders with our teams who recognised concussion symptoms at two of our games – one First XV game and one Youth game. The players were referred to be assessed at hospital and we then provided the players and their parents with the WRU Concussion Guidance document to ensure they are fully checked out by a medical practitioner in the coming weeks and follow the graduated return to play programme.”
All the documentation has been translated into Welsh as part of the WRU’s desire to expand the working use of the Welsh language.
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