See you soon 42 years old (he will celebrate them on November 14), former rugby player Carl Hayman revealed to have dementia. Long presented as the best pillar in the world, the former All Blacks player, who played in Toulon and coached Pau, decided to join a collective of around 150 former players affected by the disease, which is suing various oval ball authorities including World Rugby (the international federation which manages rugby in XV and sevens).
Carl Hayman is not just anyone. With nearly 450 professional matches, 45 selections within the All Blacks with whom he played two World Cups, the former Highlanders mainstay has a solid record: five Tri Nations victories with New Zealand, three European cups won with RC Toulon and a title of champion of France.
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The tests showed that Carl Hayman suffers from precocious dementia and probable chronic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease. “I spent several years thinking I was going crazy. It was the constant headaches and all these things going on that I couldn’t figure out, “ he confided to the news site “The Spinoff”. “I’m 41 and a lot of my life ahead of me, and when you live with that kind of thing it makes every day a challenge. “And the old pillar to recount one of the first symptoms he felt:”I started to have severe memory problems. I was trying to get a passport for my son and I couldn’t remember his middle name.“
Through the collective he joined, the former RC Toulon player criticizes the governing body of world rugby for the poor management of concussions suffered by rugby players in their careers. According to the players involved in this legal process, World Rugby was aware early on of the danger of concussions facing rugby players, but failed to take the necessary action. “I hope that players in the future will not fall into the same trap as me, that they will not be treated as an item and that they will be better taken care of “, Carl Hayman warned.
This legal action is representative of a global awareness of the world of rugby on the problems related to concussions. In October, rugby union players, suffering from neurological sequelae, lodged a complaint against the British federation. In September, 2003 world champion Steve Thompson of England announced he was donating his brain to concussion medical research.
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In France, concerns around the subject also exist, even if Roger Salamon, the president of the FFR medical committee (French Rugby Federation) had explained to us a few weeks ago that France was in doubt “the most advanced country“in terms of measures put in place and avenues studied to avoid concussions.