Family of Jeff Astle speak of pride at playing part in new concussion guidance

Dawn Astle, daughter of the West Bromwich Albion legend, spoke of her pride at playing a part.

The guidance, announced by the Government and entitled ‘If in doubt, sit it out’, means that anyone with suspected concussion must be immediately removed from football, rugby and other sports and rest for at least 24 hours. It also says the NHS 111 help-line should be called and players should not return to competitive sport for at least 21 days.

The UK-wide guidelines are aimed at parents, coaches, referees and players.

Jeff Astle died in 2001 aged 59 after years of suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and a coroner recorded a verdict of death by industrial disease in 2002, ruling that repeatedly heading heavy leather footballs had contributed to trauma to Jeff's brain.

Dawn Astle, who has campaigned alongside her mother Laraine for two decades for better understanding of head injuries and concussions, said it was positive to see the Government finally putting guidelines in place.

She said: "We welcome the new concussion guidance for grassroots sport and it's really positive to see the UK Government finally producing guidelines, so I would urge every player and participant and parent or guardian to read the document.

"We need to see two things happening now, focussing on preventing those head injuries in the first place by having less impact, less often with less force.

"Head injuries in sport and its associated immediate and long term risk is a major public health issue and we need greater efforts to change the culture of sport to ensure that these guidelines are following, possibly with an extensive public health campaign."

Ms Astle said there needed to be more education around concussion and the dangers of repetitive head impact, saying that it should be made a compulsory element in the Football Association's Charter Standard.

She also said that while the Astle family had campaigned tirelessly for a change, they had not been the only family to campaign for change.

Work to draw up new recommendations for all sports began after the death of 14-year-old Ben Robinson from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in 2011, who collapsed near the end of a school rugby match.

A coronor found that his death had resulted from "second-impact syndrome", a rare condition where the brain swells rapidly after suffering multiple concussions in a short period of time and his parents Peter and Karen had led the campaign for making sports safer for all.

Ms Astle said: "I must acknowledge the tireless campaigning of the Robinson family, whose son Ben died during a school rugby match due to concussion mismanagement.

"Through what must have been the most harrowing of personal tragedies, this family's passion, commitment and tireless campaigning for 'If in doubt, sit it out' has made grassroots sport safer for everyone.

"I'm proud to have played my part in this, but I must pay tribute to Peter and Karen because I'd like to think this is as much Benjamin's legacy for grassroots as it is for my dad.

"It's been an awfully long time coming and I have to thank West Bromwich Albion fans, who made a crescendo of noise and held up leaflets and have always supported us because they loved dad."