An association to fight against concussions

Witnessing the immense loneliness, sometimes anguish, of the rugby players who came seeking his help, the lawyer Antoine Semeria decided to start an association under the 1901 law to help victims of concussions in the sport. Called “Concussion Alert”an emergency-sounding name, it aims to bring together athletes from all walks of life to raise awareness of this invisible injury to the brain, which has been on a steady rise in recent years, particularly in contact disciplines.

“This is a real public health problem”

Jean-François Chermann, professor specializing in concussions

According to Professor Jean-François Chermann, a specialist on the subject and who follows hundreds of athletes, “The incidence of concussions in sports has increased a lot in the last twenty years, due to the evolution of morphotypes, better physical preparation with acceleration of races and impacts. This is a real public health problem with at least 100,000 cases per year in France, just in the field of sport, and this figure is probably underestimated.”

Quentin Garcia, Geoffrey Sella and Sarah Chlagou among the first members

Cases of athletes resting for several weeks, even several months, in disciplines as varied as rugby, football, handball, judo or horse riding, follow one another, sometimes reaching the sudden end of a career, such as recently the third. Line of Clermont, Alexandre Lapandry, twenty selections in the France team, who chose to take his club to court last December. Chambery hooker Quentin Garcia, who had done the same in 2020, is one of the association’s first members, along with Geoffrey Sella and Sarah Chlagou, all forced to leave rugby with sometimes disabling consequences on their daily lives and professional.

Anxiety, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, irritability, dizziness, are the recurring symptoms but there is one, perhaps worse than the others, about which they talk less: that feeling of loneliness, that feeling of abandonment by their athletic family, which sometimes they tend to take their testimonials as a personal attack.

The “Concussion Alert” association – like those that already exist in the United Kingdom, such as head for change, founded by Judith Gates, the wife of former Middlesbrough professional footballer Bill Gates, who suffers from dementia, aims to connect these athletes and warn them about the consequences of concussions, which are too often ignored. Prevention, awareness and support are their priority objectives and the first step will be the organization of a general assembly in June to elect the position. Then, meetings will be held throughout France, to exchange, witness and support.

Jamie Franklin

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