The rugby community has become all too aware of the cruel and heartbreaking reality of motor neurone disease (MND), but Lewis Moody’s tearful announcement served as yet another gut-wrenching reminder.
Moody, 47, is sadly not alone. The former England captain and World Cup winner is one of more than 2,100 people in the UK who will be diagnosed with the disease this year.
The one thing that everyone affected wants is answers, perhaps even a cure, to the neurodegenerative disease, and in that regard, rugby has been front and centre of the charge thanks to the inspiring efforts of Doddie Weir, Rob Burrows, and now Ed Slater to raise huge funds and awareness.
But the plight of those aforementioned ex-professionals has also forced the sport to consider the potential link between playing the contact sport at a high level and developing MND later in life.
Research on a group of more than 400 former international rugby players by the University of Glasgow in 2022 found a 15-times higher risk of MND compared with the same age range in the general population.
However, the science is still not yet conclusive on the role that rugby – or head injuries more generally – could play.
Only last week, a new study looking at the health records of more than 340,000 UK adults once again insisted no definitive conclusions could be made over the ‘very complex relationship’ between head injury and risk of MND.
And, in fact, some of the most in-depth research has pointed to a link between more general strenuous physical activity and MND, rather than concussions or blows to the head specifically.
Longer and more in-depth studies are still needed, that much is clear, but several leading figures, including England’s World Cup-winning Sir Clive Woodward, continue to urge the sport not to shirk the difficult conversations around the role that head injuries could play.
‘What rugby definitely shouldn’t do is shut down the conversation about the possible link between repetitive head injuries and long-term neurodegenerative problems,’ Sam Peters, author of Concussed, a book which delved into the sport’s deep-rooted problems with concussions, told Metro.
‘The game has changed radically since its professionalisation in 1995, and we haven’t had enough time to know what the effect of that is. But a number of us have been very concerned for well over a decade that there appeared to be an upward tracking of concussions in the sport, and a growing incidence of players developing long-term neurodegenerative problems.
What is MND?
Motor neurone disease (MND) causes muscle weakness which progressively gets worse over months or years.
Messages from motor neurones in the spine and brain gradually stop reaching muscles, which causes them to weaken, stiffen and waste.
Tragically, there is currently no cure for MND, but there are various treatments that can help manage symptoms for as long as possible.
The condition usually, but not always, develops over the age of 50.
Individuals with MND have a reduced life expectancy, but life expectancy can vary depending on which form of MND has been diagnosed.
‘It’s a big concern, and it needs to not be just pushed under the carpet and dismissed as scaremongering. It’s real. And the most dangerous thing here would be to just shut down the conversation and do what I think some people who are heavily invested in the sport commercially have tried to do, which is essentially suppress the debate.
‘It shouldn’t stop people from playing rugby, but it certainly needs to be a wake-up call for the sport, especially at the professional level.’
In the here and now, though, the rugby community has once again shown its superb ability to rally around one of its own, raising almost £150,000 for Moody and his family in the wake of his diagnosis.
‘As we saw with Rob, as we saw with Doddy and Ed, and as we will see with Lewis, the game will come and support him and his family to navigate this incredibly difficult time,’ Andy Long, a former teammate of Moody’s at England school level, told Metro.
‘I think that the community is doing a lot to raise significant amounts of money to help with finding a cure, which is the long-term goal, but in the short term, ensuring that those families are able to make the most of the time that they do get with their loved one is so important as well.’
A Patron of the charity Challenging MND, Long has witnessed up close how the bravery exhibited by rugby’s stricken stars has helped the thousands of ordinary families dealing with the disease up and down the country.
‘It was courageous to put themselves out there publicly, whether it was Doddie walking a rugby ball onto a pitch with his sons or the things that Rob did with Kevin Sinfield, and that really shone a light on the illness and helped a community start to come together.
‘It’s a cruel illness, because the mind and the brain stay completely active, while the body basically breaks down and fails. And watching how brave they were to publicly put themselves out there shone a light on MND, where I think before we didn’t have that.’
Long will run the gruelling Marathon des Sables next April to raise more vital funds, while Moody said he intends to continue undertaking physical challenges for charity while his body allows him to.
Those heroic efforts will ensure that the drive to tackle MND does not slow down anytime soon, but Peters insists rugby’s institutions must act in the same vein to provide more clarity on the worrying trends linking their players with the disease.
‘When someone of Lewis’ profile comes out and says that he’s got motor neurone disease, it sends shockwaves through the sport,’ he added.
‘The more establishment figures within the game may continue to bury their heads in the sand, but the wider public isn’t buying it, and that could cause a significant issue for the sport.’
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