Players, unions and competitions support new guidelines for rugby contact training load

Best-practice contact training load guidelines aim to reduce injury risk while maintaining or improving performance
New guidelines set out advised weekly limits for full contact training (15 minutes), controlled contact (40 minutes) and live set piece (30 minutes) training
Guidelines follow global consultation, including feedback from almost 600 players across elite men’s and women’s competitions, and input from leading strength and conditioning, medical and performance experts
They will be underpinned by a review and research programme to drive continuous learning and improvement, and to encourage consistent application across the professional game
Guidelines and follow-up research welcomed by players, national unions, global competitions
Elite teams, including Leinster, Clermont Auvergne and Benetton Treviso, have signed up to a trial measuring their training and match contact using instrumented mouthguards to monitor effectiveness and inform future advancements

Law change announced for age grade rugby

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) will introduce a law change to the tackle height in age grade rugby in England for the 2021/22 season.

Open letter by World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont

As World Rugby Chairman, a former player, father of three rugby players, and a fan, I am saddened by recent accounts of former players and their experiences. My thoughts are with them and anyone in the rugby family who is struggling.

RFU statement on concussion

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is deeply saddened to hear the brave personal accounts from former players and their families about their health. The RFU applauds them for coming forward to tell their stories.

IFAB approves trials with additional concussion substitutes

Following consultation with key stakeholders and recommendations from the Concussion Expert Group (CEG) and The IFAB’s Football and Technical Advisory Panels (FAP-TAP), today’s Annual Business Meeting (ABM) approved extensive trials with additional permanent substitutions for actual or suspected concussion as of January 2021.

Eight former rugby union internationals sue for brain damage

Second meeting of Concussion Expert Group recommends trials of additional permanent substitutions

Constructive discussions and recommendations concluded today’s second meeting of the Concussion Expert Group (CEG), consisting of medical concussion experts, team doctors, player representatives, coaches, competition organisers and refereeing and Laws of the Game experts. The meeting was chaired by Jonathan Ford, the Chief Executive of the Football Association of Wales and a member of The IFAB Board of Directors.

NFL and AWS Launch Artificial Intelligence Challenge to Crowdsource Ways to Automate Player Identification using NFL Game Footage

Challenge is next step in the NFL's Digital Athlete initiative, designed to improve the long-term health and safety of players

$100,000 in total prize money available; open through November 2, 2021

New York, August 10, 2021 – The National Football League (NFL) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) today launched a new artificial intelligence challenge to create ways for computers to automatically identify players using NFL game footage. New computer vision models created through the challenge will accelerate the NFL's work with AWS to better understand, and aim to reduce, injuries in the NFL. Prize money totaling $100,000 will be awarded to data scientists with winning models. The contest will be open through November 2, 2021.

NFL to stop racial bias when settling concussion lawsuits

The NFL has said that it will stop using a race-based formula which assumes black players have a lower cognitive function than their white counterparts, when settling concussion lawsuits.

Joint statement on behalf of World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union

World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and Welsh Rugby Union can confirm they have received a letter of claim from solicitors representing certain players and will now take time to consider its contents.