Sport brain injury claims group grows to 378

A radical of erstwhile football, rugby league and rugby national players who are taking ineligible enactment claiming they suffered encephalon injuries playing their respective sports has grown to 378.

Lawyers are owed to record the claims astatine the High Court connected Tuesday.

More than 200 ex-rugby players began enactment past twelvemonth and ineligible experts said the claims could transcend £300m.

Former Wales and British and Irish Lions rugby national helping Dafydd James, 47, has revealed to the BBC that helium is 1 of the erstwhile players diagnosed with early on-set dementia.

The claimants allege the games' governing bodies were negligent successful failing to instrumentality tenable enactment to support players from imperishable wounded caused by repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows.

• Rugby World Cup victor describes interaction of dementia
• Rugby players motorboat ineligible enactment against governing bodies
• Former players to instrumentality ineligible enactment against football's governing bodies

"There is singular consistency of symptoms crossed each these interaction sports and it's precise grim," said Richard Boardman of sports ineligible steadfast Rylands Garth, which is acting for each the claimants.

"Everybody, the lawyers included successful this matter, are each fans of these sports our main precedence is looking aft our guys and pistillate payers arsenic good with encephalon harm and they request urgent objective enactment and damages for themselves and their families.

"We yet privation these sports to past good into the future, but intelligibly urgent, contiguous changes are needed."

Former rugby national stars progressive successful the assertion see erstwhile British and Irish Lion and Wales skipper Ryan Jones, England planetary and World Cup victor Steve Thompson and erstwhile Wales planetary Alix Popham.

Popham, who was besides diagnosed with aboriginal on-set dementia successful 2020, told Radio Wales Breakfast: "I cognize there's much - there's 3 England World Cup players who person been diagnosed, there's astir apt 15 to 20 British Lions and there's astir apt radical playing rugby arsenic well. It's a occupation that's not going away.

"There's things that could beryllium done time which would marque the crippled safer, but that's not being done.

"It's not conscionable changes to the game, but the things that hap successful the week - 90% of my harm was caused from grooming and that needs to beryllium looked at.

"It's not World Rugby, it's not the WRU oregon RFU making the decisions, it's the lawyers astatine the infinitesimal and they're playing chess with players' lives. They request to marque the changes and they request to beryllium made now. Every time that goes connected existent players are being affected."

Wales Rugby Union, the Rugby Football Union and World Rugby - the game's governing assemblage - said they proceed to await the afloat details of the claims being made against them.

They added successful a associated statement: "We attraction profoundly astir each subordinate of the rugby household and person been saddened by the brave idiosyncratic accounts of Dafydd and different erstwhile players who are struggling with wellness issues.

"Whilst ineligible claims forestall america from speaking to Dafydd directly, we would privation him and his household to cognize that we care, we listen, and we ne'er basal inactive erstwhile it comes to further cementing rugby arsenic the astir progressive athletics connected jock welfare.

"Acting connected the latest science, grounds and autarkic adept guidance, we perpetually strive to safeguard and enactment each our players - future, current, and former. Rugby is simply a person successful the prevention, absorption and recognition of caput impacts and World Rugby besides proactively funds transformational research, embraces innovation and explores exertion that tin marque the athletics arsenic accessible, inclusive and harmless arsenic imaginable for each participants."

'It's much of a occupation to the radical that you emotion astir you'

Colin Gibson made astir 500 vocation appearances for Manchester United and Aston Villa, with whom helium won the league rubric and European Cup

Colin Gibson remembers lifting the European Cup with Aston Villa successful 1982.

Time whitethorn person eroded immoderate of the clarity, but the emotion of the triumph implicit Bayern Munich successful Rotterdam 41 years agone remains.

"I retrieve each the joy", said the 62-year-old, who was a substitute that day.

"I'm a spot of a winner, I loved to triumph and adjacent if we played severely and won it, I was a batch happier than if we played brilliantly and lost. It was each astir winning and it was a fantastic experience. I'd bash it again successful a heartbeat."

Gibson besides remembers his extremity for Manchester United against Liverpool successful 1986 erstwhile Bruce Grobbelaar spilled his archetypal changeable astatine The Kop end. Similarly, helium recalls the screamer of a escaped footwear helium scored aboriginal that aforesaid play successful the Manchester derby.

But present Gibson volition sometimes spell retired successful the car and beryllium backmost location 5 minutes aboriginal having forgotten wherefore helium near the house.

And arsenic trivial arsenic that sounds, it's a grounds of thing more.

"That was happening much and much and I thought this was a spot strange, we request to bash thing astir it," said GIbson's woman Kim.

"I astir apt nagged him a spot excessively much, but I said let's conscionable spell and check, possibly nothing, but it could beryllium something."

It was something. In 2019 Colin was diagnosed with aboriginal onset Alzheimer's.

"Obviously it affects me, don't get maine wrong, but it affects the kids, you're not definite if they accidental thing you're going to retrieve it," helium said.

"If they're going to bring the grandkids round, bash I retrieve they were bringing the grandkids round? Things similar that, it's much of a occupation to the radical that you emotion astir you."

Gibson, who besides played for Leicester City and Walsall, is 1 of 15 erstwhile footballers present pursuing ineligible enactment against the game's governing bodies for negligence.

As for the governing bodies. they are inactive moving retired however champion to woody with concussion.

A study into reducing the hazard of dementia successful erstwhile footballers, funded by the FA and satellite governing assemblage Fifa, was launched past year.

Last period the Premier League said it was "disappointed" that a proceedings of impermanent concussion substitutes has been rejected by football's law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab).

"The crippled contiguous has got a batch of wealth successful it and that wealth is determination for the players due to the fact that of america and the guys who played 40 years earlier america and 40 years earlier them," said Gibson.

"Use the probe that is being recovered retired by my condition, different people's conditions and usage that for their ain payment to amended and marque the crippled safer."

On wherefore helium has joined the claim, helium explained: "We're putting our names down to accidental 'is determination immoderate wellness and information that the FA should person done'?

"If you look astatine astir occupations and idiosyncratic has smacked their caput and got 11 stitches down their head, they'd nonstop you home, enactment you to hospital.

"They wouldn't stitch you backmost up and propulsion you backmost connected the pitch.

"So determination comes a constituent wherever determination whitethorn good person been a occupation with that and that's something, everybody has got to look astatine this and look astatine it properly.

"Nobody is going to instrumentality distant that there's not a problem, due to the fact that determination is."

The Football Association has been approached by the BBC for comment.

'I was ne'er told of immoderate risks'

Nick Fozzard enjoyed a distinguished rugby league career

Nick Fozzard was a pugnacious feline successful a pugnacious sport.

"I erstwhile broke my cheekbone, tore my oculus ligaments, got concussed," helium said. "I lone recovered retired I'd done each that harm a fewer weeks later. I missed 1 game."

At 6ft 3in and astir 17 stones, the erstwhile prop guardant admits it was the "brutality" of rugby league that attracted him to it.

"The contented isn't getting hurt, you're going to get wounded playing rugby league but erstwhile you get wounded you request to beryllium fixed afterwards arsenic champion you tin beryllium and the systems request to beryllium enactment successful there."

Fozzard had a distinguished Super League vocation notably for Leeds Rhinos, Warrington Wolves and St Helens, winning 1 Great Britain cap.

Now 45, helium has been diagnosed with aboriginal on-set dementia and probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

It is wherefore he's 1 of 100 erstwhile rugby league players who are filing ineligible claims against the sport's governing assemblage successful the UK, the Rugby Football League (RFL).

"I was ne'er told of immoderate risks. No 1 said 'listen this is simply a truly rough, pugnacious sport, these are the risks, this is what could hap to you if you play it and past you cognize what the people is'.

"But I didn't cognize the score. I didn't cognize I was going to hide everybody's names of friends and it would alteration my personality."

The Rugby Football League says it provides enactment to erstwhile nonrecreational players done its foundation spouse RL Cares.

It added: "The RFL takes subordinate information and payment highly seriously, and it has been desperately bittersweet to perceive of immoderate players' difficulties.

"Rugby league is simply a interaction athletics and, portion determination is an constituent of hazard to playing immoderate sport, subordinate payment is ever of paramount importance.

"As a effect of technological knowledge, the athletics of rugby league continues to amended and make its attack to concussion, caput wounded assessment, education, absorption and prevention crossed the full game.

"We volition proceed to usage aesculapian grounds and probe to reenforce and heighten our approach."

"You bash get a spot scared," said Fozzard.

"My fiancé is scared, however agelong has she got maine for and adjacent though I'm here, however agelong americium I going to beryllium maine for? Traumatic encephalon injuries, dementia and CTE, it's a precise superior and worrying happening that nary 1 knows the grade of however rapidly your regression volition be.

"I'm beauteous fortunate with the enactment that I've got but not everybody has got that enactment system."