San Francisco Frontiers - Rugby brain injury court case at risk of collapse

A mix of professional and amateur players claim that World Rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), England's Rugby Football Union (RFU), the Rugby Football League and the British Amateur Rugby League Association breached a duty of care to protect them from injury.

But the presiding judge at London's High Court is now deciding whether to strike out 95 percent of the first batch of 561 claimants on the grounds they failed to comply with a ruling to disclose all available documents relating to their neurological testing.

Senior Master Jeremy Cook said lawyer Richard Boardman of Rylands Garth, who until this week was representing the claimants, was at fault rather than the former players themselves.

"The only complaint in this case is against the way Mr Boardman has handled the material," Cook said. "No claimant in this case can be said in any way, shape or form to be responsible for the deficiencies in the way this case has been presented."

Boardman has notified the court of his intention to "come off the record" in the case after the claimants unanimously agreed to terminate their dealings with Rylands Garth.

They are in the process of appointing new lawyers, but whether they can find any to take over a case that has already been running for six years and cost millions of pounds remains to be seen.

Former Wales rugby union flanker Alix Popham is one of those bringing the action after being diagnosed in 2020 with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the age of 40.

CTE is a progressive brain condition that is thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and episodes of concussion.

Popham said a change in legal representation was needed because of the "scale and complexity" of the case.

He added: "We hope it will help provide the momentum required to move the proceedings forward as efficiently as possible".

Cook expressed sympathy for the claimants at risk of having their cases struck out.

"We have got three buses full of passengers going to the same destination," he said. "The first bus, the driver drives them off a cliff and the result is that they don't get to the destination.

"The other two get to the destination. What of those on the first bus?"

England rugby union World Cup winners Steve Thompson, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery and former Wales internationals Colin Charvis, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones, Lee Byrne, as well as Popham, are among the high-profile former players involved in the case.

They allege they have suffered a range of neurological conditions such as early onset dementia and CTE because of repeated blows.

They argue the governing bodies had the knowledge and resources to understand the likelihood of brain damage, but did not take steps against this or inform the players.

Each of the governing bodies denies wrongdoing and is defending the legal claims.

K.Torres--SFF