Former NRL player joins call for mandatory concussion training as federal government backs education push

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A former NRL player has joined Concussion Australia's call for mandatory training for players under 25 and parents of children under 16. This comes as the federal government responds to a Senate inquiry, agreeing that better education is needed.

Transcript

00:00Watching ex-NRL player PJ Marsh pass a football to his teenage son, it's hard to believe he

00:09didn't want him playing the game he loved.

00:11He pretty much signed us up for tennis, golf, everything like that.

00:16With his injuries and stuff, he didn't want us playing footy.

00:19Serious injuries and head knocks forced Marsh to retire earlier than he'd planned.

00:25When I did finish playing rugby league, I was a little bit dirty on rugby league.

00:28I felt like they'd left me and hung me out to dry.

00:33The pint-sized player was a Queensland state of origin Eels, Warriors and Broncos hooker.

00:39We're finding out a lot more about those these days, how serious it was and I suppose there

00:47wasn't concussion rules as such back then.

00:50Marsh, alongside Concussion Australia, is calling for mandatory independent education,

00:56particularly for young players.

00:58This concussion crisis, we need to be seeing action from not only the federal government

01:02but also the state and territory governments and that includes principally mandating education

01:09in particular areas of society for particular or deemed sports.

01:15And it's not just for the players, but for parents of kids under the age of 18.

01:20This is for your more at-risk sports as it relates to head injuries, rugby, AFL, combat

01:26sports and other sports of that nature.

01:30More than a year after a Senate inquiry, the federal government says it supports a recommendation

01:35to improve community awareness and that better education strategies are needed.

01:41Marsh says his body and brain will never be the same.

01:46With the education, I think the players will understand that that's just silly.

01:51It's not toughness to keep going.

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