There has been some controversy at the early game at today's World Cup between Portugal and Morocco, other than the fact that the early game was a Group B game, rather than the Saudi Arabia/Uruguay clash from Group A. You may remember Nordin Amrabat suffering a concussion during Morocco's game against Iran, notable for the er, rudimentary way it was treated as Amrabat was splashed with water and slapped around a bit. He was eventually substituted.
The Moroccan team doctor, Abderrazak Hifti confirmed that Amrabat suffered a concussion against Iran. "I asked him five questions and he could only answer one, I saw clear symptoms of cerebral concussion.
In spite of the injury, Amrabat started today's game with Portugal just five days after suffering the injury. FIFA's return to play guidelines state that a player that suffers a concussion is not fit to play until at least six days after the injury, providing they are symptom-free. The six-step process is available on the FIFA website, with each of the steps consisting of 24 hours.
Nonetheless, in spite of the guidelines, Amrabat started this afternoon's game. He wore a scrum cap for the first twenty minutes of the game before tossing it aside. There is no evidence that suggests a scrum cap reduces the likelihood of a player suffering a concussion.
Speaking ahead of the game on BBC, Kevin Kilbane said that football needed to draw on rugby to tackle the issue.
In football, we turn a blind eye to concussion. We have to learn from other sports, we have to learn from rugby. The mentality in the game for too long is if you get a whack on the head, you say 'forget it, play on'.
There was a lot of criticism elsewhere.
Such a terrible example to set watching this Morocco player on the field 4 days after being hospitalised for concussion. Millions watching around the world and they stick a headguard on him, which has zero proven effect on concussive impacts 👎🏼
— Christian Day (@christianday) June 20, 2018
Of course Amrabat (Moroccan 9) is playing today. Is anyone even surprised? Even though he showed about 4 clear signs of a concussion only 5 days ago. But, he is helpfully wearing a useless “helmet” to draw attention to the inept concussion polices of football and his team. https://t.co/dv9uYeEkep
— Ross Tucker (@Scienceofsport) June 20, 2018
Or course he did. What could go wrong? Oh yeah, everything.
World Cup 2018: Morocco star Nordin Amrabat, who recently regained consciousness after a #concussion (4 days ago) throws off protective cap early against Portugal https://t.co/bguL1jgqjM— Chris Nowinski, Ph.D. (@ChrisNowinski1) June 20, 2018
It is the latest example of football's dangerously casual approach to concussion, and comes four years after Germany's Christoph Kramer was allowed to play on in the World Cup final in spite of suffering a head injury.
