A group of former rugby league players is planning to sue England's governing body of the sport for negligence over what they say was a failure to protect them from the risks of concussion during their careers.
The group is represented by a firm, Rylands Law, which has also launched an action on behalf of ex-rugby union players against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.
Former Wigan and Britain player Bobbie Goulding is part of a test group of 10 former rugby league professionals involved in the action against the Rugby Football League. Goulding has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and probable CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — which is a progressive brain condition thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head.
The Longest Goodbye - Rugby and the dementia dilemma
The players allege in a letter being sent to the RFL that, given the significant risk of serious or permanent brain damage caused by concussions, the governing body "owed them, as individual professional players, a duty to take reasonable care for their safety by establishing and implementing rules in respect of the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of actual or suspected concussive and sub-concussive injuries."
