Concussion in sport Inquiry announced

The links between sport and long-term brain injury are to be examined by a Parliamentary Inquiry.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee will look into the issue over two sessions, the first of which will be held on Tuesday 9 March 2021.

The cross-party group of MPs will consider scientific evidence for links between head trauma and dementia and how risks could be mitigated.

Announcing the inquiry, DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said: “This inquiry will consider scientific evidence to link sport with the incidence of long-term brain injury.

“We will look particularly at what role national governing bodies should be taking and their responsibilities to understand risks involved for players and what actions might be taken to mitigate them.

“We’re seeing a number of cases involving brain injury in sport likely to reach the doors of our law courts and we will also look at the implications for sport in the longer term of any successful legal claim.”

It comes at a time when legal actions across football and both rugby codes are being considered or have already been launched, and follows the 2019 FIELD study which found professional footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the population.