Record Detail

The number of incidents of concussion in professional
rugby union is increasing steadily. In the English
Rugby Premiership, concussion was the most frequent
injury suffered by professional players in each of the last 3
seasons. Further, there is developing evidence of a link
between suffering repeated concussions and chronic traumatic
encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. World
Rugby’s principal response to the growing problem of
concussion in rugby has been through the introduction of
the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment and the Return to
Play protocols. Few amendments have been made to the
playing rules of the sport with the express intention of
reducing the frequency with which concussions occur. The
article explores whether World Rugby could be found to
owe professional rugby players a duty of care under the
laws of negligence in England and Ireland. The article then
goes on to examine if World Rugby could be found to have
acted negligently in its response to the issue of concussion,
through the adoption of its concussion management rules
and its failure to amend the playing rules of the sport in an
attempt to prevent concussions from occurring. Following
this, the article analyses the difficulty which a potential
plaintiff would face in establishing causation in a negligence
action against World Rugby. The article concludes
with suggested changes which World Rugby could implement
to lessen the possibility of a finding that it has acted
negligently in relation to players’ safety