My youngest son has a deep passion for sport. He always has and I am sure he always will. He is fortunate to be a relatively gifted athlete and through hard work has played his chosen sports to a decent level.
For years we took him to cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter, just to supplement things he has played judo and spends hours in the gym.
But as soon as he finished his GCSEs he announced that he was retiring from rugby. Not only did he want to concentrate on cricket all year round he kept telling us 'I don't want to be brain damaged by the time I'm 40'.
Now that certainly doesn't mean everyone who has played a lifetime of the game will suffer from a debilitating neurological condition, and it certainly doesn't make anyone immune to the other risks of life, but my boy had a point. There is a worrying, high profile portfolio of rugby players who have gone on to develop life limiting conditions, especially motor neurone disease.
We have all seen once formidable men such as Doddie Weir, Joost van der Westhuizen and Rob Burrow deteriorate and be taken from us far too soon. Sadly, today former Leicester Tiger and England captain, Lewis Moody, has announced that he has been diagnosed with the disease.
We know only too well that correlation is not causation but the emerging evidence does show that there is a strong lin between neurodegneration and a history of playing competitive rugby (includingd the head trauma that often goes alongside it). In 2022 research undertaken at the University of Glasow found that former international rugby players are at a two and a half times higher risk of dementia, and over 15 times greater risk of developing MND compared to the general population.
It is a state of affairs that we cannot continue to ignore or pretend doesn't exist.
Lewis Moody is, sadly, the latest victim but he certainly won't be the last.
It is true that correlation is not causation, but it's equally true that there isually no smoke without fire.
Rugby needs to change and be made safer, just as American Football has taken steps to, if it does not it will surely die as a game and it will deserve to.