Dangers of sport on the increase

It comes as no surprise that the British Medical Association has again called for a complete ban on boxing following the events of last weekend when Spencer Oliver ended up in hospital and was kept unconscious for three days following his European super bantamweight bout. A blood clot had been removed from his brain and, although he is now out of danger, the incident has opened up again the whole debate about boxing and banning.

There is little point in going through all the pros and cons of the debate again. They have been discussed here often enough already. But what is relevant now more than ever is the dangers which participants in sport always face but which seem to be increasing all the time. One particular sport which has become more violent in recent years is rugby. Leaving aside for a moment the awful photograph which appeared in these pages during the week of one rugby player sinking his teeth in another player's head, rugby union has become increasingly dangerous. Surprisingly enough, many players now seem to be causing as much damage to themselves as to their opponents. Players taking the ball at speed and deliberately, head down, taking on a phalanx of opponents with the intention of providing a further phase of possession for team-mates is repeated again and again. One can only guess how much such behaviour damages the head, neck and shoulders.

One has only to watch Keith Wood take on the opposition, his shaven head being used as a battering ram and his shoulders heaving into the opposition, to wonder just how he can keep going.

The fact is that he can't; he is getting injured frequently and initially made it known that he didn't want to be considered for the Irish tour in South Africa. He is not the only one facing burn-out and many other players have opted out of summer tours to various places because of a being "knackered" after an extremely hard domestic season. It is significant that rugby players are now wearing protective shoulder-pads and more and more players are wearing a type of protective helmet. This was forbidden by the laws of the game until recently; shoulder pads now seem to be general for players in all positions.

Soccer players, too, are feeling the heat under continuous pressure, and there must be a few of the more experienced Irish squad who were unwilling to shed tears when they failed to qualify for the World Cup in France.

Players like Denis Irwin and Steve Staunton will certainly relish a few weeks lying on a beach somewhere or relaxing on the golf course or watching the matches on the telly. Professional sport has certainly become more and more demanding and one cannot avoid the conclusion that the vast majority of the new demands are being made by television companies. The question is, what is the long-term effect on the health of the players? A professional football physiotherapist in London once told me: "I am afraid that some of these young lads with severe knee or ankle injuries will end up in wheelchairs, crippled by arthritis, before they are 50."

There is a limit to what the body can take. It is certainly not fanciful to suggest that many of the injuries which players suffer in all sports these days may lead to problems in later life. In that context, boxing may not be the worst offender. While dangers exist in all sports, to a greater or lesser extent, bans are not the answer. The first rule of prevention is to be aware of the problems presented and then to seek ways to lessen the dangers either by rule changes or protective gear. It must also be recognised that there are limits to what the human body can take and that the pursuit of a sound mind in a healthy body is the ultimate aim of sport.