“I spent several years thinking that I was going crazy. At one stage that’s what I really thought. It was the constant headaches and all those things that happened that I couldn’t understand “, said Hayman in a moving account to the New Zealand site “The Bounce”.
In his bad experiences he suffered memory loss, to the point of not being able to remember your child’s name. To that, Hayman added a marked increase in his alcohol intake. “Suddenly I started having suicidal thoughts”. He faced charges of domestic violence and ended with a sentence of pretrial detention.
The former rugbier expressed himself about the excesses to which he was subjected to play. For example, when they gave him an anti-inflammatory injection in his neck during the week and he played the same weekend.
“It was my job and they paid me well, but I doubt it would do me any favors. The headaches were the beginning, and it was something that got worse over time. They never went away.”, he assured.
The sequelae of his condition and progressive deterioration are not limited to headaches and memory loss. Hayman describes it crudely:
“As time has passed, it has become more evident which are the symptoms related to CTE (Chronic Trauma Encephalopathies) injuries: memory loss, anxiety, anger, depression and alcohol abuse. Lately I’ve been spinning around in my head, my tongue gets stuck and it’s hard for me to find the right words “, he detailed.
His complaint against World Rugby
Currently, Hayman reside in Taranaki and has joined 150 other players, including the former English international Steve Thompson, who have sued World Rugby for failing to protect players from the risks caused by concussions.
“I hope they do not fall into the same trap as me, that they are not treated as an object and that they are better cared for”, He assured after revealing that in principle he refused to have his head examined due to the severe pain he suffered, but that he changed his mind as he realized that he could help current and future players avoid the same fate.
Your project to take care of the players
Hayman He spoke quite a bit about how demanding the schedules are, making it clear that the first thing that is needed is a shorter season to protect players, rather than expose them.
And even a comparison with another high-impact sport like football was encouraged. “I look back at the NFL and they have a 17-game season over four to five months with the possibility of a couple of playoff games. You compare it to rugby, which has a 10-month season … I think there has to be a debate about what constitutes an acceptable volume of rugby. “.
Source From: Ambito
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