The Tasman Rugby Union has suffered a horrific injury that was brought on by…
An injury doesn’t have to be “spectacular” to sustain a concussion, and knocks to head aren’t limited to to scrums and tackles. Tasman Rugby Union will be spreading the word at about concussion awareness and looking after the brain post-injury at two events next month, with the help of one of the country’s leading headache experts. Tasman Rugby Union referee administrator Stephen Caunter said he attended a talk last year in Nelson from Headache Clinic founder Helen Tufui.
The Community Rugby team felt her message was “so good” that more people in the upper south, especially those involved in contact sports, should hear it, according to Caunter.
He declared, “Concussion is not just a rugby thing.” “That’s the goal, and hopefully the message is clear—it doesn’t matter what sport you play, understanding brain injury and concussion and how the brain heals itself is quite important,” he stated. “It’s across all sports.”
Introduced in the last ten years for all Tasman rugby grades with a union referee present, the “blue card” was one of the on-field techniques Tasman Rugby Union utilized to safeguard players from long-term head injuries. According to Caunter, 30 blue cards were issued at Marlborough and Nelson Bays during the previous season.
Referees are taught to recognize telltale indicators in athletes that indicate a concussion, possible concussion, or head trauma, according to him. “And then they have the blue card to take a player off the field, but the blue card also starts to get information and support from Tasman as well as from New Zealand Rugby,” he stated. Ten years ago, Tufui, who had experienced a concussion herself, opened the Headache Clinic to treat her own chronic headaches.
