Concussion is the most serious issue facing football codes

In Disneyland: Ben Ross is concussed playing for Cronulla against Manly in 2008. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

Despite the obvious virtues of the new concussion laws brought in by the NRL last week, there are still those who don’t get it, still those – most particularly former footballers now in the media – who think this is what happens when lawyers get involved in sport, who are nostalgic for the time when men were men and you could have a bleeding brain and still be sent back out on the field.

To them I say sincerely, it is actually important that you grasp this, as you set the tone. The whole concussion thing is not because lawyers have run amok, or because league is now run by the new firm of Namby & Pamby. It is because serious people have realised the issue is serious, that the NRL has a duty of care to its employees, and it must make changes.

For the consequences of ignoring it are devastating. You must know, as I do, the names of many old footballers – and some not so old – who either have early dementia, or what looks like the beginning of it. There is a whole slew of them, and not just in rugby league, but across all the football codes. The common thread is too many concussions, and not enough care taken after those concussions to look after the players and take time out.

Tough times ahead: The Roosters will struggle in 2014, as they did on Thursday night against Souths. Photo: Getty Images

This issue is too important to reduce to a plug, so I don’t say this gratuitously, but for a show I’ve done for Channel Seven for this Sunday night. We tested a famous rugby league player, younger than me, and the results are not good. In his own words: ‘‘I have brain damage.’’ This is serious.The NRL has done the right thing in at last changing the regulations to better protect the current generation of players – and they’ve done it much better and more quickly than rugby union has – from the professionals down to the littlies.But it needs one more thing. It needs the leaders of the football community to get behind it – to not dismiss it. To understand and say out loud that the only way forward is to acknowledge the concussion issue for what it is, the most serious one facing football today. And one that must be addressed. Bravo the NRL for taking the lead on it. But their duty of care must be matched by your duty to care.