Seeing Tomas Francis staggering around Twickenham turf made me sick to my stomach
This article is written by Progressive Rugby
The father of teenager Benjamin Robinson who died following a head injuries sustained during a rugby match has said the Tomos Francis incident at Twickenham on Saturday made him sick to his stomach.
Ben was 14 when, in 2011, he became the first player in the UK to have his death recorded as second impact syndrome as a result of rugby.
At grassroots and age-grade rugby, concussion protocols at that U15 cup tie in Northern Ireland were ‘recognise and remove’ followed by a minimum 23-day standdown.
But Ben, a star player for Carrickfergus Grammar in Northern Ireland, was checked three times for concussion and had been allowed to play on. There is no HIA process at grassroots rugby.
His father Peter was not at the match but he has relived the tragedy hundreds of times because of a video tape of the match made by one of the crowd.
Seeing Welsh prop Francis struggle to get to his feet then stumble helplessly around like he was drunk dredged up memories he would rather forget.
“I feel like a broken record on this,” Peter said.
“We’ve had deaths and unfortunately our son was one of them all because a brain injured player wasn’t removed and allowed back on the field.
“Seeing Francis stagger around was shocking and upsetting and made me sick to my stomach. But those emotions were replaced by utter disbelief and anger when he was allowed to undergo an HIA and then unforgivably return to the field.
“At the end of the day the system put in place to protect players failed on Saturday. The fact that this player showed clear signs of a brain injury and was still able to pass a HIA sends a terrible message.
“What gets to me World Rugby have educated us all on the signs and symptoms of brain injury and the HIA process so they shouldn’t be surprised when it’s called out.”
Lobby group Progressive Rugby sent an open letter to World Rugby, the WRU and Six Nations saying the situation demonstrated a “clear flagrant breach of HIA protocol.”
The letter said: “Progressive Rugby is concerned that the events demonstrate that individual who have incurred brain injury have continue to be permitted to play which will place them at likelihood of risk. We consider the above incident demonstrates a clear flagrant breach of HIA protocol that potentially puts both the short-term and long-term health of an elite athlete at risk.
In addition, we still await the outcome of investigations into the failure to remove Jack Nowell from the field during the game against Italy (13th Feb) and behaviour of the England medical team at the culmination of the Italy v England U20 game (11th Feb).
It is our major concern that the public has observed that in Rugby Union individuals have incurred brain injury and been permitted to continue to play.
Until satisfactory explanations are provided, we remain unable to accept World Rugby’s assertion that player welfare is the game’s number one priority.”