The damages of concussion to footballers are being ignored, according to the players’ union Fifpro.
There were several incidences during the World Cup which highlighted the dangers of concussion to those on the pitch.
Christoph Kramer had to come off during the final after a knock to the head, whilst Javier Mascherano and Alvaro Pereira both played on despite being knocked out in their games against Netherlands and England.
And Fifpro’s head of communications Andrew Orsatti has insisted that the game is ignoring the long-term effects of head injuries.
“The World Cup, being the pinnacle of football, has now become a showcase for how not to handle head injuries,” he told The Guardian.
“Clearly this World Cup has elevated this discussion to a level that can no longer be ignored and the facts are irrefutable.
“The vast amounts of medical evidence [and] looking at other sports such as the NFL in particular, and the hard lessons they had to learn – hard lessons that ended up in court – ended up in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to retired players [after having] drawn a very clear link between the repeated blows to the head.
“Irrespective of what you think of the difference between these sports, these are contact sports.
“It’s very clear that now we have a situation where nobody can any longer ignore the medical advice. We saw with Álvaro Pereira losing consciousness, as he said: ‘The lights went out.’”
The union hopes that concussion is comprehensively checked out during a match to assess whether players should continue.
“We’ve seen it on other incidents where it hasn’t been measured, a protocol is not in place to measure it properly.
“Clint Dempsey, the moment he broke his nose for the United States [against Ghana] – who’s to say that is not a concussion? [Also] of course in the final with Kramer – we can talk about Mascherano in the previous round.
“It can take up to 10 to 15 minutes for a sideline concussion assessment to be carried out.
“The fact that players play on through the pain barrier and are celebrated as modern-day gladiators is also ignorance and lack of education. They are to be protected. You cannot ignore the reality of where we are today.
“This is a tidal wave that will engulf the sport. This is a debate that will continue as soon as the new season begins. Around Europe and elsewhere. It’s going to spread from FIFA to UEFA, the national associations. Therefore we may as well be proactive about it.
“Football has become wanting, it’s living in the dark ages .There are clear guidelines that must now become rules. It has to be independently managed without any potential vested interest. It cannot be done without an independent medical professional that has no interest in the score or pressure from the manager because a team is down to 10 men [while a player is being assessed].”
