FORMER WALES CAPTAIN Ryan Jones has revealed his fears for the future after being diagnosed with early-onset dementia aged 41.
Jones, capped 75 times and a member of the British and Irish Lions squad on the 2005 tour of New Zealand, received the diagnosis of probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in December last year.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Jones said: “I feel like my world is falling apart.
“I am really scared because I’ve got three children and three step-children and I want to be a fantastic dad.
“I lived 15 years of my life like a superhero and I’m not. I don’t know what the future holds.
“I am a product of an environment that is all about process and human performance. I’m not able to perform like I could, and I just want to lead a happy, healthy, normal life.
“I feel that’s been taken away and there’s nothing I can do.
“I can’t train harder, I can’t play the referee, I don’t know what the rules of the game are anymore.”
After being diagnosed with depression Jones, who retired in 2015, said he began to have short-term memory problems and was becoming forgetful.
“It terrifies me because I don’t know if, in two years’ time, we’re sat here and these episodes are a week long, two weeks long or permanent,” added Jones, who resigned from his post as performance director at the Welsh Rugby Union in October 2020.
“That’s the fear, that’s the bit that never leaves. That’s the bit I can’t shake off.
“Every episode I have also leaves a bit of a legacy. Everything we cancel, every relationship that I poison or don’t have time for anymore, just makes it a little bit tougher to cope.
“I don’t know how to slow that down, make it stop, what to do.”
Last month, the Alzheimer’s Society established partnerships with organisations such as the Rugby Players’ Association to provide a permanent way of referring any past and present player or manager who has either been diagnosed with dementia or is caring for a loved one.
Jones – awarded an MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to rugby union and charitable fundraising – maintained he would not change his experiences of “living the dream” of playing for Wales.
However, he believes the sport needs to do more to help take preventative measures.
“It (rugby union) is walking headlong with its eyes closed into a catastrophic situation,” Jones said.
That’s just frightening. The poor man and his family
Terrifying and sad. It makes you wonder what other names we’ll hear about in the next 5-10 years.
Awful to hear for him and his family. So young to get this dreadful disease.
Looking at the various test series across both rugby union and league that have been on over the last month (IRE v AB, State of Origin, AU vs ENG etc) in at least every game there have been HIA’s that have ruled out players.
The players are getting bigger, stronger, faster and as such the collisions are too.
The ruling bodies across both codes need to do more for player in-game protection and need to be honest and truthful about long term player health.
The NFL still deny that CTE is caused by the game even with the black and white research that has proven this is the case – Rugby should not take the same path.
@Rian Smith: agree maybe the players should have to wear some kinda of head gear. Some of the hits in Rugby is frightening now. Some worse than any boxing bunches.
@Michael Dowling: Head gear would actually make the problem worse. The brain floats around inside the skull and when there is a collision, it’s the brain crashing into the skull that is actually causing the damage. Head gear wouldn’t stop that from happening, nothing can, but head gear would reduce exterior damage to the head which would probably result in players making even bigger hits with their heads. Take some of the NFL hits for example. There’s no way those guys would lead so forcefully with the head if they weren’t wearing helmets. It’s that internal brain trauma that’s the problem though.
The only way they are going to combat brain injuries is to reduce head contacts.
@Michael Dowling: helmets only prevent damage to the skull. High tackles are more likely to increase whiplash motion of the head, which rocks the brain, and contributes the accumulation of sub-concussive impacts that are thought to cause CTE. That is why World Rugby are cracking down on “accidental” high tackles. The head and neck area needs to be completely off limits. For the game to manage this and survive, they will actually need to become even more strict about it.
Horrific. My thoughts are with him.
Frightening. God love the poor man. People will say it’s not the right time to discuss the matter, but it really is. Watching Test rugby is scary and it’s getting harder to watch all the time. These guys are like crash test dummies and it’s hard to believe that this is not just the tip of the iceberg. I bet everything he achieved in a great career feels pretty empty now.
@Brian Murphy: the right time to discuss this was when the game turned professional. The next best time was when they found out about CTE was a serious concern in rugby, but rugby needs to find a way to take the collisions out. Rugby used to be a game of evasion, and the rules need to change to reflect that.
@Joseph Blocks: I meant in the comments section of such a sad story. I think your sentiments go without saying and I couldnt agree more. Train wreck coming down the tracks.