LONDON: The British government on Friday published a 10-point action plan with sporting bodies to tackle disturbances in sport by developing new protocols and introducing new technology by autumn next year to reduce head injuries.
The plans include asking the sport’s governing body to discuss training protocols with player associations, commissioning new research and working with the Premier League on a pilot plan to improve player welfare.
The recommendations are a response to an investigation by the Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) earlier this year, which urged the government to take a “coherent approach” to looking at head injuries in sport.
“The safety of the players should be of absolute paramount importance. Working with the sports industry, it is fitting that we make every effort to ensure that people are as safe as possible and that the risk of head injuries is minimized,” said Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston.
“That’s why we are taking steps to mitigate this risk and focus on developing new, gold-standard industry protocols and emerging technology that can help build a more complete picture of the risks involved.”
In July, the Premier League and other governing bodies said English football would limit the number of high-force headers in training to 10 per week from the 2021-22 season to protect players as part of new guidelines.
The league began permanent concussion replacement trials in February after the game’s rules-making body IFAB proceeded to test additional “concussion subscriptions”.
A group of former rugby players filed a class-action lawsuit against World Rugby and other governing bodies in December, alleging that their failure to protect them led to the onset of dementia.
The rugby governing body announced guidelines this year, limiting full contact training to 15 minutes per week and launching a brain health education campaign for players in November.
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