Lessons from Mallorca-Barcelona — Why protecting brain health must come before the scoreboard

At SDN we believe that the recent incident in the Mallorca-Barcelona match, where play continued despite a clear traumatic head injury and a player lying on the pitch, is deeply disturbing.
Not only was the referee’s failure to stop play a critical mistake, but furthermore constitutes negligent dereliction of duty and it raises questions about how we can better protect players on the pitch.
These very issues were extensively discussed at this year’s SDN Head Injuries in Football Conference in Zurich. Urgent topics included the need for mandatory education at all levels of the game, referees, coaches and players from both teams.
Objective decision-making, and the presence of independent Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultants (UNCs), as already established in the NFL, to ensure that such incidents are recognized and managed immediately and consistently are critical. We will soon publish practical, consensus-based recommendations to better safeguard players’ brain health. This incident is a stark reminder: protecting brain health must always come before the scoreboard.‍
Players must always come first.

#PlayerFirst #TBI #Concussion #BrainHealth #SDN #SAFP