Rugby’s unwelcome legacy for some, now becoming recognised

“There was no education on concussion” said former Wales Rugby international Alix Popham when explaining how head injuries and concussion on the pitch was viewed when he was turning out for Wales as he did thirty three times between 2003 and 2008.

Alix will be in Marlborough on Sunday, in the Town Hall at 1:00pm talking with journalist and author Sam Peters about Sam’s award-winning book ‘Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth’.

One of Alix’ great strengths was his fearless tackling which is one reason why he became a fixture in the Wales team across many years in the noughties. But recently, only three years ago in 2021, at the age of forty he was diagnosed with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Now, a decade or so after hanging up his boots he is coming to terms with the damage caused by years of blows to the head.

The former back row said concussion was not considered a serious issue during his playing days with Scarlets and French side Brive. “I only found out after the scan that 90 percent of concussions happen when you are conscious. During training you would be seeing stars regularly after a hit but you were given a dose of sniffing salts, that was the way it was.”

Sam Peters’s book ‘Concussed: Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth’ lays bare the awful toll that rugby union and other sports have taken on players in the last 30 years of money-oriented, bone-crunching, head-to-head contact. Alix is testament to that, as is Steve Thompson former hooker and one of England’s World Cup winnung stalwarts. As Sam says, “I’ll be accused by many of reopening old wounds by writing this book. I’ll be accused of being a sport hater … [but] it’s my deeply held belief that rugby has got it badly wrong since the game went professional.”

As the journalist who single-handedly brought the issue of concussion and associated premature dementia and death to the fore, Peters recounts how, by selecting ever taller, heavier and more muscle-bound players, the rugby authorities were creating teams of battering-rams intent on destruction. It won games. It has also destroyed lives.

Shortlisted as sports journalist of the year in the UK Press Gazette Awards and author of two other books on sport, Peters has won many plaudits for ‘Concussed’, not least from Alan Dymock, editor of Rugby World: “In a time when others obfuscated and trod water, Peters asked the difficult questions and told the terrible stories.” It was also shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2023.

But it’s not just rugby. Football, and other sports where head contact has been a main feature ar addressing this issue which is affecting many former top (and other) players. Alix, with his wife, Mel, Alix has helped found charity Head for Change to support ex-rugby players and ex footballers affected by neurodegenerative disease as a result of their careers.

Marlborough LitFest welcomes both Sam and Alix to Marlborough to bring this aspect of our great game of Rugby to the attention of us all. Sunday, 1pm, in the Assembly Room (upstairs) of the Town Hall.