Finally...why footy players are dribbling morons

[Valkie]

COGNITIVE DECLINE STUDY
WORLD Rugby has been urged to become “a lot more aggressive” in limiting the amount of contact training in the game after new research revealed that players suffer a decline in cognitive function and blood flow to the brain over the course of one season.

The University of South Wales paper is the second study published this month to reveal neurological changes in players, accelerating the theory that the biggest factor in rugby’s brain injury crisis is the cumulative effect of repetitive contact and not oneoff incidents of concussion.

The Times reported this month on a study conducted by Imperial College, London, which found that 23 per cent of currrent elite players, with an average age of 25, had changes in their brain structure, “specifically in the neuronal wiring (white matter) and blood vessels of the brain”.

[Black Orchid]

Much like boxers.