Lord Watson: new concussion guidance is testament to work of Astle family
Lord Watson has praised the family of Baggies legend Jeff Astle after new concussion guidelines were published for grassroots sport.
The move, announced last week by ministers, came after a long-running campaign which saw Astle recorded as the first British professional footballer to have died from brain injury linked to the repeated heading of footballs.
The new guidelines are aimed at identifying, managing and preventing head injuries, and suggest that no one should return to sport within 24 hours of a suspected concussion.
Speaking during a debate on the measures in the House of Lords, former West Bromwich East MP Lord Watson said he welcomed the guidelines and called for a greater understanding of concussion in grassroots sport.
The Labour peer said: "It is over 20 years since the coroner recorded a verdict of death by industrial disease in the case of England striker and West Bromwich Albion legend Jeff Astle.
"That campaign has taken two decades for the Astle family; I am sure the Minister would congratulate them. This welcome guidance is testament to the campaign that they have run to convince parliamentarians in all houses and on both sides that this is important.
"But does he agree that concussion is still not understood in schools and in amateur sport? Actually, concussion is a brain injury, and if we use that language, we might get that understanding of how serious these injuries really are for our young people."
In response, Sports Minister Lord Parkinson said he expected the guidelines to evolve as medical knowledge improves. He added: "I hope that the guidelines, and the greater awareness and understanding that they will lead to, will help avoid more situations and heartache for families like theirs."
Astle spent a decade at Albion and is remembered with great affection having scored the winner in the 1968 FA Cup Final. He also got five England caps and made the squad for the 1970 World Cup.
A verdict of death by industrial injury was recorded following his death aged 59 in 2002, but he was later confirmed to have died from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
His family launched the Jeff Astle Foundation in 2015 with the aim of raising awareness of brain injury in sport and support to those affected.
