In short:
Of 51 brains of former rugby league players examined, 31 were found to have CTE.
The disease was found in players in their 20s, 30s and 40s, from amateur to professional levels.
The findings were presented at the International Sports Concussion Conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.
American football is already brutal with all the crazy padding and helmets, doing that shit raw is beyond my comprehension.
League players don’t tackle in the same way as gridiron. There’s a very good argument to be made that gridiron would be made substantially safer by removing the helmets.
I’ve heard this put forward before, about the protective equipment causing more harm.
Gridiron players will go for harder hits, because they have pads and helmets, resulting in more bouncing of the brain inside the skull.