Concussion prevention, management and education remains a top priority as Rugby Canada marks Rowan’s Law Day

In 2013, Rowan Stringer, a high school rugby player from Ottawa, died tragically of Second Impact Syndrome, having suffered multiple concussions within a short space of time whilst playing rugby. In her memory, Rowan’s Law and Rowan’s Law Day were established to bring awareness to concussions and concussion safety.

Rowan’s Law Day takes place on the last Wednesday of every September and is a day dedicated to raising awareness of the work being done around concussion prevention, management and education in sport. Rugby Canada is proud to be a leader in this area.

With Rugby Canada’s support, Rugby Ontario piloted the Blue Card Program for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The ‘Blue Card” is a process initiated by a coach, player or match official during a game to identify an individual who needs removal from the field of play due to a suspected concussion. Starting in the spring of 2024, all nine other provincial unions will be welcome to apply for a “request for use” to begin implementing the Blue Card Program in their own local club and community-based competitions.

To prevent a tragedy from ever happening again, all matches played under the jurisdiction of Rugby Canada and the country’s Provincial Unions must comply with Rugby Canada Concussion Guidelines and World Rugby’s Recognize and Remove protocols.

Rugby Canada also encourages players, coaches, match officials or anybody involved in the game of rugby to become familiar with resources which provide education around concussion identification and management, such as: Concussion Management for the General Public.

“Effective concussion education and management is key not only to ensuring that our community can continue to participate in rugby over their lifespan, but that they can lead healthy lives outside of the sport as well,” stated Jackie Tittley, Rugby Canada’s Manager of Training and Education.

The Blue Card Program is happening concurrently with research being conducted by the SHRed Concussions team from the University of Calgary Faculty of Kinesiology’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (SIPRC), in partnership with Rugby Canada, focused on the prevention of concussions and injuries in female youth rugby. The research phase is currently ongoing after beginning in the summer of 2022. 

Earlier this year, Rugby Canada launched the new ‘TackleSmart’ resource, a professional development course and online resource that educates both new and experienced community and high school rugby coaches on current tackle laws, techniques, and progressions as well as helps coaches working with athletes who are new to contact. The goal of this training is to prevent injury in the tackle by giving coaches the competence and confidence to coach the tackle and progress effectively to contact. 

Rugby Canada TackleSmart Coach Reference Manual

“We are so proud to have been able to create and share this resource with our community and to see the positive impact it is already having with coaches who have engaged in the training.”

The TackleSmart manual was created to be part of Rugby Canada’s PlaySmart resources, a player welfare program that aims to educate players, parents, coaches, match officials and administrators on safety in rugby across Canada. The PlaySmart program was implemented in 2016, and recommends that everyone involved at all levels of the game complete the ‘World Rugby RugbyReady’ and ‘World Rugby Concussion Management for the General Public’ online learning modules.

Rugby Canada has also developed the ‘Age Grade Law Variations’ documents, a resource developed to ensure that a safe, enjoyable, age-appropriate environment is created at all levels of the community game.  

Rowan’s Law Day will take place on Wednesday September 27, with Rugby Canada’s social media channels dedicated to raising awareness of Rowan’s Law and the work being done around concussion prevention, management and education in the sport. If you wish to commemorate Rowan’s Law Day, you are encouraged to wear purple this Wednesday.