Carl Hayman walks off the field in a game for the Highlanders in 2006. Photosport
Carl Hayman walks off the field in a game for the Highlanders in 2006. Photosport
One of Carl Hayman's old teammates has been left disheartened by the former All Blacks prop's health news and has taken a step back to look at his own struggles with concussion.
The 41-year-old had spent several years thinking he was "going crazy", and believes his 17-year professional career has taken an irreversible toll on his brain's health.
Alando Soakai, who played alongside Hayman at the Highlanders (2007) and Otago (2005-2006), told Newstalk ZB it's unfortunate news for a great teammate and friend.
He says he has a "better understanding" of what Hayman is experiencing due to his own head injury troubles, which saw him step away from the game in 2016.
"I'm really mindful about it, like do you let your kids play the game? The game that you love so much? I coach it and because I love this game so much, it's giving me back so many opportunities on and off the field. I don't regret hanging up my boots because of that reason," Soakai says.
"But sometimes you watch some of these collisions, it's quite frightening that you've put your body through this... when you see these stories and especially when it's ex-teammates, it does strike a weird feeling inside you."
"Players are slowly starting to speak up about it, you had the former England hooker Steve Thompson, who came out about his dementia a couple of months ago. I think when you play in a sport I think it's always in your thoughts 'am I going to pick this up later on in my career?'... but I guess it's part and parcel with the game. It's probably an area where there has been work done for it which I know about, which is great to see. But it's tough when you see your teammates going through this battle now."
My first year in the Highlanders, Carl knew how to welcome new players into the environment & always put his body on the line every game. This won’t be the last player coming forward that’s for sure. My thoughts are with you mate 🙏🏾 Take care champ. https://t.co/plV64ew0Jy
Thompson's revelation, which was highlighted by his failure to remember winning the Rugby World Cup with England in 2003, is one of many recent accounts by players of head injuries and their impacts.
Welshman Jamie Roberts revealed last year he could taste cerebral brain fluid after a clash of heads in a test in 2008, but continued to play on for 15 minutes.
"You bite the bullet really in terms of the job that you take, you play in a sport where you're doing contact throughout the week," Soakai adds.
Alando Soakai scores a try during a 2011 game for the Highlanders. Photosport
Once Soakai retired from playing, he immediately moved into a coaching role with Kubota Spears in Japan and has been there ever since. He's pleased to see the awareness of concussions elevated.
"When you see current players right now that are going through it... you get players that are stood down for concussions and guys that have been out on a regular basis now. That also puts awareness in it.
"That allows to continue these wheels in motion in terms of finding ways to nullify the issue, but it's been a battle for many years now. It's quite disheartening... I gave Carl a wee text and said my thoughts are with him."
Hayman has joined a lawsuit being prepared on behalf of 150 former professional rugby players, claiming rugby's governing bodies - including World Rugby - have failed to protect players from the risks caused by concussions and sub-concussions, despite being armed with the knowledge and evidence to do so.
Meanwhile, Dr Stephen Kara wants talk surrounding Hayman's CTE diagnosis to be pegged back.
Dr Kara is a sport and exercise medicine registrar and has worked closely in rugby circles for the best part of 15 years, including the Blues, Māori All Blacks, Auckland and Counties Manukau.
He says the news surrounding Hayman is saddening but feels the attention should be placed more on his early-onset dementia diagnosis.
"Reports around him having CTE, I'd imagine that's someone making an assumption. I don't think we could accurately say that until there's an autopsy," Dr Kara says.
"CTE is an autopsy diagnosis, it's driven out of the States - the more we know about it, the more inaccurate we think it's been in the past... we've got a whole lot of clinicians on the side trying to catch-up here and see if a certain thing causes something else, and at this stage, the evidence would say there may be an association but actually cause and effect are not proven."
Dr Kara believes the safety of rugby as a whole, particularly among youth, doesn't need to be called into question.
"A blanket 'rugby is a contact sport and it's going to lead to long-term problems' is inaccurate. There are many other benefits of sport and taking kids out of sport has health consequences, socialisation consequences and those need to be factored in when making those statements around a sport is safe or not.
"I think players nowadays... there's probably an onus on consent, around you realise you're going to play this game there is an element of risk. Having said that, there's an element of risk to getting into your car each day and driving, but we don't have to sign a form to do that."
