18
CONCUSSION & WELFARE
P
layer safety is paramount to rugby. Players must feel safe playing rugby, and parents must feel that as much as possible is being done to safeguard their children. In 2017, Rugby Australia rolled out two pilot Blue Card trials in the ACT and Newcastle/Hunter region to improve concussion awareness and management. After positive receptions, the Blue Card will be rolled out nationally in 2018 from the U13 age group and above. At the professional level, continuous improvement is being made to the Head Injury Assessment (HIA) program. Significant time and resources have been invested in the education and training of medical staff engaged in the professional game. In addition, as part of Rugby Australia’s commitment to ensuring that rugby is safe, inclusive and fair, a Safety and Participation Policy was introduced with two key principles:
• Safety is the primary consideration in all participation decisions and overrides all others; and • All endeavours must be made for rugby participants with broadly compatible physical development in conjunction with ability and/or experience to play with and against each other. Based on those two key principles, an Age Dispensation Policy was developed which allows for ‘outliers’ in size to be assessed for skill and experience and then subsequently recommended (and in some cases mandated) to move grades. Supporting the Age Dispensation Policy was research done in conjunction with Australian Catholic University and Brumbies Rugby, which provided objective and empirical data to aid the assessment of ‘outliers’ in a rugby-appropriate way (i.e. allowing for locks to be tall, etc). In a further boost for player
welfare, Rugby Australia partnered with Core Integrity to launch the ‘Rugby Australia Speak Up Hotline’ in November 2017. This program is available for professional players and staff to report integrity and misconduct issues to Rugby Australia, which the person may otherwise feel reluctant to report. The reports are safe, secure, remain confidential and can be anonymous. Players and staff are able to submit a report in a number of ways including via the weblink, QR code, phone, email and mail. The report is then assessed and triaged externally and independently by Core Integrity, who are trained investigation experts, before being given to Rugby Australia for appropriate action. This program provides the player or staff member pure anonymity if they prefer - the cutting-edge technology provides that the reports made are untraceable.