Thisnis probably going to be one of the most disliked comments on this board:
So ye, Vickers wants money. He wants his money not to be used in his retirement, he is not to blame, never did anything that would contribute to CTE, never drank gallons of morphine, got into fights, headbutted his fellow props to get hyped, never drank alcohol, touched drugs etc...
I recently, and I won't say who or where, was in a welsh pub with one of the what 500 players listed in the law suit. He was a high profile welshman, not sure if he was capped fully, but he was hammered, bragging about a pay out and had maybe 6 visits to 'powder his nose' in the toilet. I guarantee you he isn't the only one.
The truth is CTE is still a bit of a mystery, an interesting study published last year used 150 odd donated brains of young who had passed before 30... CTE in 40% was all stage 1, didn't differ between athletes and non athletes.
The most common factors were how they died (overdose or suicide) linked to drug use, mental health, and genetics. The link to repetitive head collisions is there, but the clinical symptoms causation is questionable at best. Far more research is needed, however now there is money, and public pressure science will 100% look to link CTE (it's how science works sadly, I've seen way too many students looking to prove their hypothesis by any means necessary).
I get it, there was pressure back in the day, pressure to play, pressure to do what needed to be done, some guys self medicated, or developed addictions to cope, but I just struggle to have too much sympathy for them all. You can't eternally victimise yourself, in the hope of a pay day. I see some of these cases like women, who have never met a celeb but as soon as there is an accusation of inappropriate behaviour by the celeb, come out of the wordwork for a payday.
Rugby is dying, it's being sanitised to within an inch of its life, governing bodies should only be responsible for safety to within reason, making the sport non contact is the only eventuality if we keep going this way (numerous educators and 'professional researchers' have eluded to it).
For me it's simple, if you want to play rugby, you accept the risks, and you play, if you don't accept the risks then badminton is a perfectly viable safer option, or even touch rugby, or walking rugby.
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