Worst Aid

A number of college rugby playing students have raised concerns over the lack of medical care being provided to cope with injuries sustained during matches.

Referees should have first aid training, according to the RFU, yet when students received injuries they relied heavily on the players and friends on the sidelines to diagnose, call ambulances and arrange transport to A&E.

Unattended injuries this term include broken bones, suspected cracked ribs and several severe head injuries.

College rugby is not a YUSU affiliated sport, which means captains and players alone are left to organise fixtures. This means that the teams are not provided with any first aid training from the University.

As a result of this detachment from the University, matches are not allowed to be played on campus, so fixtures take place at the York Railway Institute Rugby grounds on the other side of York.

Second-year Halifax rugby player Jon Rees seriously injured his leg last month in a fixture against Derwent. He broke the bone in three places and anticipates having to retake the academic year.

“I was completely unable to move my leg but the referee ignored me at first and my leg but the referee ignored me at first and my team mates dragged me onto the sidelines where I spent the rest of the game sitting in quite a lot of pain. None of the players or the referee were aware of any medically trained staff at the RI at the time. There really should be in case of serious injuries.”

First-year Vanbrugh Centre Jordan Gillies was left unattended on the side of the pitch with a suspected broken rib in a match against Alcuin last month.

“I was having trouble breathing, but there were no first-aiders, ambulances or any medical staff around. In the end a nearby football coach saw me struggling and called an ambulance. Luckily, my rib wasn’t actually broken.” Had Gillies actually broken or cracked a rib he could easily have punctured a lung, and the situation would have become a lot more serious.

According to the NHS, any injury to the head that results in a loss of consciousness should immediately be assessed by a first-aider or an ambulance called, as it may result in permanent brain damage, yet many players this term have been left completely unattended after blacking out.

One Alcuin player, Marinus Maris, has been badly concussed twice already this term, and, shockingly, Halifax player Alex Cook was left fitting on the pitch whilst the referee ran around at a loss, trying, and failing, to find a medic at the RI.

Alcuin rugby captain Muzzy Foley also sustained a head injury in a recent rugby match and is highly critical of the current standards of care: “I’m not sure what the standard medical practice is for concussion, however, I am certain that it does not involve being given some Highland Spring and booking your own taxi to the hospital – we’re not asking for a pitch side Holby City, just some first aid presence.” Foley is joined in his condemnation by Vanbrugh captain Chris West, who expressed concern over medical situation at the RI.

“Considering the number of injuries every week in college rugby, and the lack of first aid most weeks, this is definitely an issue that needs looking into,” he told Vision.

Freddy Harris, the Derwent player who is in charge of college rugby this year, spoke to Vision about the difficulties in providing college rugby with adequate medical care: “Essentially it’s a matter of cost. To have two first-aid trained people, as well as a first aid unit, would cost at least £96, and as we get no funding from the University, the cost is all out of our own pockets. If costs were any higher than already it might jeopardise the ability of teams to get 15 people out at the weekend.

“With any serious injuries, basic first aid training dictates that you call qualified medical professionals. I have basic first aid training, yet in any serious situation I would be at a complete loss.”

As Harris says, it is just not feasible for college rugby players to pay for their own medical care, and so for the safety of all players, the switch that will see the sport recognised as an official college sport in October cannot come soon enough.

York Sport President Sam Asfahani told Vision that this was one of the many problems with College Rugby not being official or run by the Union.

“Rugby is not a sport that requires a first aid trained medic or doctor on site, unlike something like American Football. Of course, it is a high injury risk sport which is why referee qualifications normally include training on how to deal with injured players,” he said.”Next year, with College Rugby becoming official, we’ll look to ensure the correct protocol is applied. We will of course look to help injured players in any way we can presently.”

Up until then however, it looks as though college rugby’s only option, if it wants to continue to run, is to go on without the medical attention it so clearly requires.