Criticism has again mounted around the “fundamentally flawed” concussion trials in football, after an incident where a player was allowed to continue after sustaining a head injury.
In the Sheffield United vs Leeds match at the weekend, George Baldock initially continued after being checked on the pitch by medics, but had to come off five minutes later after feeling groggy and experiencing blurred vision.
Under new trial concussion protocols introduced in the Premiership, players who sustain a head injury can be replaced in a concussion substitution, which will remove them from the game permanently.
However, calls are mounting for these substitutions to be a temporary measure in the match, to give the opportunity for off-pitch checks to be made and properly assess a player’s fitness to continue.
England legend Alan Shearer said: “I look at it and I think ‘when is football going to learn?’
“If in doubt, sit them out. What is football waiting for? What is it doing, allowing this?”
Former England striker Chris Sutton said the incident involving Baldock would be “laughable if it wasn’t so sad, the sight of a player being given the old ‘follow my finger’ treatment on the pitch and deemed fit to continue”.
Chief executive of brain injury charity Headway, Peter McCabe, has long campaigned for more to be done to safeguard sports people from concussion.
“How many times will the health of players be risked before football finally listens? What is it going to take?,” he said, in the wake of the Baldock incident.
“Yet again, our concerns regarding the fundamentally flawed concept of permanent rather than temporary substitutes has been graphically illustrated.
“The medical teams have an impossible job. You cannot expect them to be able to make a considered opinion in a two or three minute on-pitch concussion assessment.
“We know that the signs of concussion can be delayed in their presentation, as shown by George Baldock reportedly suffering from blurred vision just a few minutes after passing the assessment.
“A 10-minute off-pitch assessment, with a temporary substitute on in his place, would have seen his concussion symptoms identified in the safe confines of the treatment room. Instead, he risked a secondary and possibly more serious brain injury while remaining on the pitch.
“Ten minutes will not pick up all concussions – but temporary substitutions would be a significant step forward for a sport that continues to drag its feet on concussion.
“Time and time again we have called for football to stop finding excuses and finally accept it needs to change.
“It has to happen, now.”
