Raphael Varane demands more action on head injuries in football

Retired central defender Raphael Varane has called for greater care for footballers and increased vigilance when it comes to head injuries. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender retired in the summer, and suffered no shortage of fitness issues, but his concussions are not spoken about.

Varane explained to Diario AS in a long-form interview that his knee injury gave him trouble throughout his career, and that he was in constant pain when playing.

“Exercising is healthy, doing elite sport is not,” Varane stated. He was also asked about whether he would erase certain games from his career, starting with a sloppy performance against Manchester City in the Champions League, where Los Blancos were beaten. Varane did not use it as an excuse, but says that he was not in fit condition to play.

“No, no, that made me stronger. And it made the derbies with United even more exciting (laughs). I’m not one to make excuses, I never have. But this gives me the opportunity to talk about something I consider very important. I was carrying a concussion during that match. And it was from several weeks ago.”

Varane played through several concussions

Going into further details on the head injury, Varane described the strange sensations he had while concussed – and admitted that playing through concussions was a common occurrence.

“In a previous match, against Getafe, I’d taken a hard hit to the temple with the ball. And like so many other times, I kept playing and had to be substituted. The thing is, in the days that followed I felt incredibly tired. It was impossible to recover. I thought maybe it was just a matter of sleeping more and that would be it. But the truth is I was concussed and I didn’t really know the symptoms. It lasted several weeks. Back then they didn’t do tests. And I wasn’t doing well in terms of coordination, energy…”

“I couldn’t concentrate, it was impossible. I felt slow, uncoordinated. For example, reading the ball’s trajectory, which is my strong point, was impossible. That day there was no way. I was slow with the ball, me who always played with one or two touches.”

Varane highlighted that his case was the norm rather than the exception when it came to dealing with a head injury.

“As an athlete, it’s hard to accept that something is happening to you. But I learned a lot from it. It’s not the only time it’s happened to me in my career, and I know of other players who’ve had similar experiences. From there, I studied concussion and worked with a team of experts in France.”

Measures to prevent brain injuries in footballers

Recent years have seen a pushback in the United Kingdom on the impact of heading the ball, with a number of studies suggesting that participation in professional football can have an impact on a person’s chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Heading the ball has been banned for players under the age of 11.

“To me it’s perfectly logical. If you talk to experts, it’s hard to understand why things aren’t changing already,” Varane said, supporting the move. Varane was armed with statistics on the matter to back up his point.

“There are millions of data points. Footballers have a 3.5% higher chance of developing a degenerative brain disease. And that’s a lot. On average, a professional makes between 20,000 and 25,000 headers. I, as a centre-back, make many more. So, if they can prevent some of them when they’re young, that would be a good thing. Especially when you’re young, because the brain is still developing.”

The French defender, who is currently coaching at Como in Serie A with the youth teams, called on Spanish football to adopt some of the measures being taken in England.

“Now there are very accurate tests. Look, the technology I used to measure my balance was also effective for measuring cognitive function. Just by standing still for 30 seconds, you can see the micromovements and know if someone has had a concussion. They do this in England. At the beginning of the season, they do tests to have a baseline in case something happens to you later. Here in Spain, when I left, it wasn’t done yet.”

Despite the studies that have taken place, the impact on players of head injuries is not a major conversation in Spanish football, nor has it received much attention. Compared to other sports, such as rugby or American football, football has relatively lax rules in terms of head injuries, albeit there is less head contact. The most high-profile recent case occurred when Gavi was taken off after a medical assessment.