Philippe Chauvin speaks about the dangers of this sport, five years after the death of his son

In his book “Rugby: dying is part of the game”Philippe Chauvin tells how his son lost his life after a double tacklege during a match. “Rugby is a passion, something I have played for 25 years. I lost my son Nicolas in 2018”he specifies. “It’s a game situation. A ball is coming. Once he grabs it, two tacklers hit him in the head”he explains. “Two individuals weighing 120 kilos arrive at 20 km/h (…) finally undertake something complicated and impossible and hit Nicolas in the head, plunging him into a coma. Three days later he died”continues the author.

Not many changes

Asked about the violence of rugby, he said he did not know that his son could “risk your skin”. “We expect injuries, but death, the tearing of two vertebrae cervicalit’s road trauma”says Philippe Chauvinist. A collective action is underway which brings together professionals and amateurs to talk about the effects of rugby on the body, in particular the way in which players are treated at the end of their career. “What I say in my book is that few people just told me it was horrible. We cannot move on when we are touched in our flesh”, concludes the author of “Dying is part of the game”.