A Parliamentary inquiry is to be held to examine the link between sport and long-term brain injury.
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee will look into the issue over two sessions, the first of which will be held next Tuesday.
Through the inquiry, the cross-party group of MPs will consider scientific evidence for links between head trauma and dementia and how risks could be mitigated.
It comes at a time when legal actions across football and both rugby codes are being considered or have already been launched, and follows the 2019 FIELD study which found professional footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the population.
Announcing the inquiry, DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said: “This inquiry will consider scientific evidence to link sport with the incidence of long-term brain injury.
“We will look particularly at what role national governing bodies should be taking and their responsibilities to understand risks involved for players and what actions might be taken to mitigate them.
“We’re seeing a number of cases involving brain injury in sport likely to reach the doors of our law courts and we will also look at the implications for sport in the longer term of any successful legal claim.”
Among those invited to contribute to the inquiry is brain injury charity Headway, which has campaigned on the issue of better safety in sport for years.
Chief Executive Peter McCabe will outline the charity’s long-standing Concussion Aware campaign and its aims of improving concussion awareness, particularly at grassroots and junior levels.
He will also call on the Government to encourage sports’ governing bodies to do more to address the issue.
“Increased scrutiny from this influential cross-party group of MPs is very much welcomed. We hope it will lead to greater pressure on all sports to do more to instil a cultural change in the way head injuries are perceived and treated,” he says.
“It has taken many years of campaigning and Headway repeatedly speaking out in the national media to get to this stage.
“There has been progress in that time, but there still remains a lot to do in terms of elite-level sport consistently setting a good example for grassroots sport to follow.
“We look forward to sharing the charity’s views with the Committee.”
Dr Michael Grey, UKABIF trustee, will also be taking part in the inquiry.
“We are really pleased to be involved in this inquiry,” he says.
“UKABIF has been raising issues surrounding brain injury in sport for a number of years and devoted a section of the APPG Report: Neurorehabilitation and Acquired Brain Injury: A Time for Change to this subject setting out some clear recommendations.
“We will be able to ensure that our evidence-based recommendations are heard at the highest level.”
