Dr Colin Doherty

Every sport should be signing up to making their game safer from the point of view of head injury.

I agree.

I mean, it's an incredible language to be using.

I would argue maybe that's the thing that has changed.

Because the game has become so gladiatorial over the last decade or so, I think the language associated with the heroism and the physicality of the game has just been accepted.

Now, yes, look, the rugby authorities and to a certain extent GAA and football, soccer, have taken into account

you know, the concussion problem, right?

Somebody gets knocked down, gets knocked out, gets up confused, dizzy, they're removed from the pitch.

And I think they have done a lot.

Now, I would prefer if they all had the same guidance.

They all have different guidance, which drives me crazy.

There's no reason why each code should have a different set of guidance.

But let's say for argument's sake, they're taking that at least seriously.

What we have found with my colleagues in Trinity College and research is that it's the sub-concussive blows, the multiple blows that the person is getting in any one game.

So, you know, to give you an example, when we look at some of the players we looked at, now these were retired players.

They had been given up playing an average of 12 years since they played their last game.

And what we found that they had ongoing brain inflammation.

And when we asked them, well, how many concussions did you take?

They'd say, oh, maybe six or seven.

That's all they remembered.