Du Plessis: Safety first
16 May 2006
Following the death of schoolboy Tommie Watson in a rugby match at the weekend, former Springbok captain Morne du Plessis has pleaded for better safety standards.
Du Plessis, the Chairman of the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, has called on the South African rugby community to double its efforts towards making the game safer, especially at schoolboy level.
Du Plessis’ call follows the death of Gerrit Maritz High School prop and head boy Watson who was fatally injured in a match last Saturday.
The Fund, established 26 years ago to assist disabled rugby players, has in recent years taken a proactive stance aimed at preventing catastrophic injuries.
Watson, 18, had been on life support machines after suffering a blow to the head. He was declared brain dead on Saturday night and the machines were turned off on Sunday night.
“This is a sad loss of a young life,” Du Plessis said. “We extend our condolences to Tommie’s family and express our sincere sympathy to all who knew him at this very difficult time”.
Du Plessis stressed that the Fund should be viewed as a service to the rugby community to assist in educating people as well as in establishing measures to improve safety and prevent life threatening injuries. The Fund produces a Coaches Log Book annually that aims to assist coaches in preparing young players for the demands of the game.
It is also involved in the training of Rugby Medics across the country and a few years ago introduced the SpineLine, an emergency response service, in partnership with NetCare 911.
“In the past three years, nine schoolboy rugby players have suffered catastrophic injuries. Whilst this number remains unacceptably high, Fund statistics demonstrate that our programmes have been effective in managing injuries and improving reaction times in areas where they have been widely implemented.”
“The great thing about these programmes is that they are readily available to any school or club in the country. Our challenge is to get the rugby community to support efforts to spread the Power of Prevention message. Any person who has a vested interest in the game should make safety their number one priority,” Du Plessis said.
20 Comments
16 May 2006, 12:11 pm
Where is Saru’s involvement in all this?
16 May 2006, 12:14 pm
Tragic, it really is.So any body out there – please DONT PLAY WHEN INJURED!!!! AND IT GOES FOR PLAYING WITH BAD COLDS AND FLU AS WELL!!!
…But so sorry that the HIGH RATE OF MURDERS IN OUR COUNTRY does not really reach the front pages any more…
16 May 2006, 13:20 pm
Does anybody know exactly what happened?
Was he kicked in the head or did he break his neck or what?
My deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
16 May 2006, 13:48 pm
Only that it happened at a ruck Vinnie, and that he was advised not to play because he sustained a head injury the week before.
Sad really.
Condolences yet again to the family.
16 May 2006, 14:12 pm
Hiya PA,
Good to hear frm you again.
I understand it happened in a ruck but you dont just go into a ruck and then it happens.
Also, there are calls for safety etc but without even knowing what happened how do you address the problem?
This is horrible – i hate it when things like this happen.
16 May 2006, 14:49 pm
Yeah Vinnie,
It is real sad man.
Unfortunately not much details was given but reading between the lines, he probably got a knock against the head.
And since he sustained a similar injury a week before, and probably suffered from concussion, this time around, the ultimate price was paid.
I would like to know who warned him though and who knew about this.
One never wants to point fingers here, but if we are going to avoid this we need to know what went wrong where!
Maybe his coach and parents werent even aware of this then we must make sure that players in future, should bring doctors reports to their coach after sustaining even minor injuries before he is allowed to play.
No medical equipment or expertise would have saved this poor childs life it seems, but it still could have been prevented.
16 May 2006, 15:06 pm
It would be interesting to compare our school boy fatalities compared to that of other rugby playing countrise like NZ, Aus the UK and France
16 May 2006, 15:08 pm
Uk play a very safe game. They only start tackling when theyre 13 or something.
Their rules in the contact situation at junior level are very strict.
16 May 2006, 15:12 pm
maybe something to look at…..
16 May 2006, 15:18 pm
Head injuries or concussion in NZ schools for boys are stood down for 3 weeks after the incident, after the 3 weeks, the child will see the doctor again for final check and if not ready he/she will get another 3 weeks off for safety pre-cautions. I read on the other thread that young Mr.Watson sustained a head injury the week before and played in the following week where it sadly ended for him. SARU, do they have a safety policy on player well-being?
16 May 2006, 15:18 pm
agreed.
just disgraceful that it only ever gets talked about when soemthing like this happens.
16 May 2006, 15:25 pm
Vinnie what is interesting is that his dad says that they weren’t aware of any previous injuries.
16 May 2006, 15:31 pm
The above points about head injuries, ie: not playing for a fixed time are crucial and should be made law.
It is also vital and should be a matter of extreme caution that players go through adequate training and conditioning before taking to the field. particularly newcomers to the game.
16 May 2006, 15:41 pm
It is a saru rule that you mucst be off I think 4 weeks after any concussion.
The rpoblme with school rugby is that often there is a lot of pressure on a player to play a particular game adn these kids, being kids, are stupid enough to play.
Most of the coaches arent coaches, not to mention medically trained and either push the boys quite hard or dont give a ****.
Im not saying this happened here or that this is the case at all but it does happen and ive seen it happen.
Rugby is a contact sport and people will inevitably get hurt but if yout ake the necessary precautions injuries can be minimalised. Unfortunately in SA we underestimate the level of pressure a contact sport exerts on a young mans developing body.
I also cant quite unerstand how the dad missed his consussion unless he stayed in the koshuis or soemthing as a concussion makes you groggy for days.
16 May 2006, 15:43 pm
This opens a whole new point. While I accept that fatal injuries are far lower abroad, does this have anything to do with the cost of medical in SA. All of Europe,Aus and NZ offer free medical. Would it be possible for SARU or possibly even the unions to cover the costs of doctors, paramedics and specialists for these games. Some one like Uli could head this project as he has a passion for both medicine and the game.
16 May 2006, 16:09 pm
Hi guys!
Anyone from PE?
16 May 2006, 16:37 pm
Kaballas,
I’m determined to answer your question on every thread. I hope you didn’t go mad.
16 May 2006, 17:08 pm
tompig,
Funny thing is I’ve always played with a paramedic next to the field in SA but have never had an ambulance anywhere close when I’ve played in England.
In fact I dislocated my shoulder and it took the ambulance more than half an hour to arrive and another half an hour to get me to hospital.
16 May 2006, 17:40 pm
In the PE region there is a standing arrangement that school boy matches do not start untill their is a qualified medic and board next to the field.
Problem is the lower leagues with the unfittest kids get the plonker refs with old rickety equipment blah blah…recipe for a train smash.
There is an emergency spine line that all medics can get through to with a cell phone 24/7.
I blew a touring UK team in PE last season where they (the tourists) queried the “squeeze ball”, ,which is outlawed in schoolboy rugby in the UK. Over here it is fine. This is a definate high risk move in a tackle / ruck situation and could be relooked at to prevent serious injury.
Flip side of course is schoolboy rugby is already “watered down” in the scrums as the “hit” has been removed from the game and the push over scrum is outlawed. But Morne is correct when he commits to safety first.
16 May 2006, 22:52 pm
The CBPJ fund is the official charity fund of SARU and I think I read that they fund them to the tune of about 2,4 million a year. The Springboks also always to that Telethon to raise funds for this worthy cause
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