England’s World Cup winner Phil Vickery and former Welsh fly-half Gavin Henson are among more than 200 retired rugby players suing three of the sport’s governing bodies over neurological injuries, it has emerged.
It comes after London’s High Court ruled the players must wait until next year for their application for a group litigation order (GLO) to be decided.
England World Cup winner Steve Thompson, who revealed in December 2020 that he had been diagnosed with early onset dementia, is also among those taking legal action.
Former Wales forward Alix Popham, who has revealed how his life has ben “turned upside down” due to brain damage sustained while playing rugby, is also on the list released this evening.
Rylands Garth, the law firm representing the 226 former players, have applied for a GLO – which would mean the individual lawsuits can be managed together – in the case against World Rugby, England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
The claimants allege the three governing bodies failed to put in place reasonable measures to protect the health and safety of players.
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Their lawyer Susan Rodway said in court filings the defendants “ought to have known of the likelihood of long-term neurological complications due to cumulative concussive or sub-concussive blows to the head”.
This alleged failure is said to have caused disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.
She added that some of the individual cases, where players are suing for loss of earnings and the cost of future care, could be valued “well into the tens of millions” of pounds.
World Rugby, the RFU and WRU did not address the merits of the lawsuits at Friday’s hearing, but are defending the claims.
They said in a joint statement earlier this week that they were unable to comment on the case or contact players, as they had yet to receive full details of the claims.
“We would want players involved to know that we listen, we care and continue to champion player welfare as the sport’s number one priority,” they said.
“Players and parents can have confidence that rugby is as safe as a contact sport can be. Rugby will always be led by the latest science when taking any action on player welfare.”
The rugby union case is one of three similar cases brought by Rylands Garth, which also represents former rugby league and soccer players.
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