There are new signs that Ontario’s Rowan’s Law is making a difference, as students at St. Peter Catholic School help spread awareness. “When I was playing rugby once, I should not have kept going because it hurt really badly and I knew I should stay out of the game,” said Lucy Byrne, a student at St. Peter Catholic School. Byrne and fellow student Kenzie Carriere know firsthand the risks of playing through a head injury. “I was tackled onto the ground. And then as I was getting up, my player was running over me and she kicked me right in the head and I completely just fell down to the ground,” Byrne said. “I ended up diving for a ball and I hit my head on the ground when I dove for the ball, so it was not a fun experience to have. Headaches after,” said Carriere. The third Wednesday of September is Rowan’s Law Day, helping bring awareness to concussions in sport in honour of Ottawa’s Rowan Stringer, who died trying to play through a concussion in 2013. The law, passed in 2018, creates a framework for removal-from-sport and return-to-sport protocols for coaches, teachers, trainers, athletes, and parents. “Oftentimes athletes try and push themselves to the limits. And as you can see, in Rowan’s case, it didn’t end well. And we really want to eliminate that risk,” Carriere said. On Wednesday, Grade 12 students at St. Peter Catholic School helped inform some of the younger students about the significance of this day. “Our whole purpose is spreading awareness of head safety and concussion awareness and the severity of injuries to the head and trying to keep that dialog, communicating with health professionals, your parents, your teachers, your coach,” said athletic director David Ibit. A new report shows a nearly 10 per cent drop in sports-related traumatic brain injuries after the introduction of Rowan’s Law. “So very encouraging data initially to see almost a 10 per cent drop, in sports related traumatic brain injuries,” said Tim Fleiszer, executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada. “Now, Dr. Jesse Young, who’s the lead author on this work, would adamantly say, you know, we need to be careful in that. We don’t necessarily know that this was caused by the introduction of Rowan’s Law. But it does appear that the law is working.” The message from Rugby Ontario is clear. And now, coaches, officials and even spectators have the tools to help. “When in doubt, sit them out,” said Rugby Ontario CEO Myles Spencer. “Anytime that there is a suspected head injury or concussion within the field of play—whether that be in the match or in a training environment—officials around the game, coaches, parents, spectators are now equipped with the knowledge and the resources to be able to trigger a blue card, which will ultimately remove that player from play.”
