The case had been running for almost six years without ever reaching a courtroom. Now it can.
The case had been running for almost six years without ever reaching a courtroom. On Friday 21 August, a British judge ruled that it could.
Several hundred former players are suing World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union. They suffer from neurological conditions they attribute to the repeated blows taken during their careers, and accuse the governing bodies of failing to act and failing to warn them of the risks, when in their view those bodies had the knowledge and the means to do so.
Who is bringing the claim
The claimants include former Wales captain Ryan Jones, Wales international Alix Popham and three of England’s 2003 World Cup winners: Steve Thompson, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery. Steve Thompson has said publicly that he has no memory of the final he played in.
What a career at that level involves
Exposure to impacts cannot be measured directly, but the volume of matches and minutes gives an idea of the scale. Here is what our records show for the five named claimants, across all competitions, club and country.
| Player | Matches | Minutes | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Thompson | 263 | 14,494 | 1999-2011 |
| Ryan Jones | 221 | 14,856 | 2004-2014 |
| Alix Popham | 190 | 11,567 | 2000-2010 |
| Phil Vickery | 186 | 11,436 | 1997-2010 |
| Mark Regan | 184 | 10,500 | 1995-2008 |
These totals are minimums: our database’s coverage of club competitions in the 1990s and 2000s is incomplete, and the count obviously does not include training, where most of the repeated impacts occur.
Four of the five are forwards, three of them front-rowers. Thompson, Regan and Vickery spent their careers in the scrum.
What changes
Friday’s ruling does not decide the merits of the case. It allows the case to be heard, which the governing bodies had contested. The claimants can now hope to obtain compensation and, above all, a public examination of what the unions knew, and when.
Rugby has significantly tightened its concussion protocol since the mid-2010s: pitchside assessments, a managed return-to-play period, a lower tackle height and tougher sanctions for contact with the head. The trial will cover the period before that.
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