Players' bid for group lawsuit on concussion claims adjourned

Nearly 300 former rugby players suing three governing bodies over neurological injuries must wait until next year for their application for a group litigation order (GLO) to be decided, London's High Court ruled on Friday.

Rylands Garth, the law firm representing 295 former players, have applied for a GLO – which would mean the individual lawsuits can be managed together – in the case against World Rugby, England's Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.

Judge Jeremy Cook said on Friday that the application should be heard in April or May next year.

The claimants allege the three governing bodies failed to put in place reasonable measures to protect the health and safety of players.

Their lawyer Susan Rodway said in court filings that the defendants "ought to have known of the likelihood of long-term neurological complications due to cumulative concussive or sub-concussive blows to the head".

This alleged failure is said to have caused disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

She added that some of the individual cases, where players are suing for loss of earnings and the cost of future care, could be valued "well into the tens of millions" of pounds.

World Rugby, the RFU and WRU did not address the merits of the lawsuits at Friday's hearing, but are defending the claims.

They said in a joint statement earlier this week that they were unable to comment on the case or contact players, as they had yet to receive full details of the claims.

"We would want players involved to know that we listen, we care and continue to champion player welfare as the sport's number one priority," they said.

"Players and parents can have confidence that rugby is as safe as a contact sport can be. Rugby will always be led by the latest science when taking any action on player welfare."

The rugby union case is one of three similar cases brought by Rylands Garth, which also represents former rugby league and soccer players.