The RFU’s decision not to punish Northampton Saints for allowing George North to return to the field following a head injury is utterly baffling. No one has been held to account for the fact that North’s health and welfare were so compromised 18 days ago.
On the whole, I believe that rugby takes the concussion issue seriously. The game may have taken a while to wake up and smell the danger, but concussion is a major threat to its future and, on the whole, rugby has responded responsibly.
World Rugby, the governing body, recently introduced new, far tougher interpretations to establish what constitutes foul play and tougher sanctions are also being introduced in the New Year to punish it.
There is a clear message in this. Player welfare is paramount. The player’s head must be protected. This has not been the case with North. In the North incident, the player was put at risk, his welfare was not paramount and no one is now accountable for it.
That is what the joint statement declared today: yes, we endangered a player’s health but no, no one pays.
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It still remains incredible that not one of the Northampton medical or management team spotted that North had been knocked out. Yet the investigation insists that was the case.
You may accept that no one intentionally messed up here, that there was no wilful negligence. The investigation insists upon this too, and I am happy to believe that. Nevertheless, I still feel deeply uncomfortable about Northampton’s immediate handling of the situation.
The message here, though, is that misfortune has endangered a player, therefore, no sanctions, play on.
In North’s case, the fact that his club (unwittingly) put his health at risk could lay the grounds for a future court case. It would not be the first case of a player suing his club for clinical negligence.
The statement released by the RFU and Premiership Rugby has it in black and white that he should not have been allowed to return to the field of play.
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The message to the broader game, however, is more concerning. This is a time when the game needs to be hard on concussion and hard on those treating concussion.
By doing nothing, a dangerous precedent has been set.
