USA college rugby needs to shed toxic culture towards concussion
This article is written by Progressive Rugby
An American college rugby player who sustained two concussions in one day as a teenager says he feels a toxic culture around head injuries remains an issue in the community game.
Despite considerable noise around concussion and the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the NFL, Josiah Perdue, who plays in West Michigan, said rugby still needs to educate coaches, players and parents on concussion to ensure a culture of care.
Now 20, Josiah was 18 when he travelled in March 2022 to play in a rugby tournament in Nashville when he took a blow to the head making a tackle.
“I immediately knew something was wrong, as I didn't recognize where or who I was, and what team I was playing for,” Josiah, who continued for 10 minutes before removing himself, said.
Josiah mentioned his symptoms to his veteran (senior player) but after some water and food, an hour later was back on the pitch for the next match.
“On my team, I am the guy who starts on the wing and chases the kick off,” he said.
“As I leapt to contest the ball, an opposing player hit me mid-air and I landed directly on my occipital bone of my skull. I blacked out for a few seconds and my veteran ran onto the field and dragged me off, telling me I was done.”
After the double injury Josiah says he struggled with bright lights and his grades dipped sharply. At his worst he found he had to ask for help spelling his name on exam papers and a loss of appetite and inability to train saw him lose 22lbs in body weight.
Finally recovering and putting back on weight Josiah says the old school culture around head injuries needs to change and fears concussion isn’t taken seriously.
“Sadly, most of my team discourages speaking out about concussions and treat them as regular headaches. You might get called a pussy and told to walk it off,” he said.
“They’d even tell them concussions are made up to get someone to keep playing. I don’t think many people take them very seriously and it’s a pretty toxic approach to be honest.
“I like to think if coaches, players and parents are educated there would have been a culture of care that would have ensured that I would have been prevented from making the bad decision (due to his concussion) to continue playing and then taking to the field for the second game.”
USA Rugby have not responded to a request for comment.
“Sadly, most of my team discourages speaking out about concussions and treat them as regular headaches. You might get called a pussy and told to walk it off.”