At the High Court in London last week, 295 players applied for a class action lawsuit in their legal battle with rugby union’s governing bodies – almost three years since England 2003 Rugby World Cup player Steve Thompson revealed he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, and opened the door for hundreds of other players with similar stories.
The Guardian reports that the players, who are seeking damages from World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for negligence and failing to protect them, want their cases to be heard together as a group litigation order (GLO), as opposed to hundreds of individual claims in any future hearings.
The case file is understood to refer to 268 players, with another 27 issuing proceedings earlier last week, and who would be included under a GLO.
However, it might only be February or March before the GLO is granted, and a full hearing may not take place before the end of 2024. Crucially, the players will then have to prove on the balance of probabilities that the game’s authorities are directly to blame for their conditions.
The players’ solicitor, Richard Boardman, has insisted that the governing bodies were negligent, as they failed to take reasonable action to protect players from permanent brain injuries caused by repetitive concussive and sub-concussive blows.
“This is about a systemic failure by the governing bodies, those at the top of the pyramid who create and enforce the rules and regulations,” he said. “It is not limited to a one-off breach, but instead it is about the whole ecosystem put in place by the sport’s governing bodies.”
Other applications expected from the players’ legal team include whether some claimants can remain anonymous in future hearings, while the second regards whether their legal team can use 45 cases in a future hearing as a proxy for all 295 players.
That last point is expected to prove particularly contentious, given that in GLO cases both sides have to agree. Boardman said the 45 cases contained a full range of different diagnoses, as well as male and female players, international and amateurs, and cases from before 2011 and after.
In a statement, World Rugby, the RFU and the WRU made it clear the two legal teams were still at loggerheads.
“We remain saddened to hear the stories of former players who are struggling,” they said. “Despite court orders to do so, the players’ lawyers have yet to provide full details of the claims being made against us.
“Therefore we cannot comment on the ongoing legal action, nor reach out to the players directly. We would want players involved to know that we listen, we care and continue to champion player welfare as the sport’s priority.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
More players join lawsuit for concussion-related disorders
Sports industry may have helped downplay dangers of concussions and head injuries
MND risk for professional rugby players 15 times higher than average: Scottish study
Professional rugby players’ brains can be affected in single season
Lawyers circle as yet another study links rugby to brain abnormalities