Everyone wants answers for former rugby players like Lewis Moody but they are hard to come by | Andy Bull
Lewis Moody, 47, is the latest in a long line of players who has been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease that may or may not be linked to his career in collision sport.Over the past decade I’ve interviewed more of these men, and their friends and families, than I ever wanted to.Many of them chose to first reveal their diagnoses in the Guardian.First there’s the shock, then the sorrow, then the expressions of sympathy and support.And after all that, a lot of hard questions that are left unaddressed.
The one thing everyone involved wants is clear answers, and unfortunately, they are very hard to come by,The current science can only tell you so much,The Motor Neurone Disease Association’s position is that the latest research suggests a correlation between traumatic brain injuries and MND, but that the same research has not proven that traumatic brain injuries are a cause of MND,Such injuries are just one on a long list of genetic factors and environmental factors,Studies have found possible links with electrical trauma, mechanical trauma, high levels of exercise, exposure to assorted heavy metals and agricultural chemicals, and, yes, concussions and other traumatic brain injuries that occurred while playing sport.
A 2022 study on a group of more than 400 former international rugby players found that their risk of MND was 15 times greater than the members of the general public who also participated.But then similar studies have also shown that the risks are just as high, or higher again, among cohorts of farmers and veterans.The difference is that their stories don’t lead the news.Moody is one of more than 2,100 people in the UK who will be diagnosed with the disease this year.If there’s a public perception that rugby players are especially prone to the disease, it is partly because the players who have been diagnosed have done so much to raise awareness about it.
The more you learn, the more you know you have to learn.Last year another study, out of Durham University, was widely misreported as having found that “players who have suffered multiple concussions had biological differences that make them more prone to developing MND”.According to the team who actually worked on it, it did nothing of the sort.The science is never straightforward.As the MND Association says, the evidence “has often been conflicting and clear conclusions cannot be given”.
It also points out that the numbers involved in some of the studies themselves are so small that it is impossible to rule out random chance as a factor in the findings,No one wants to scaremonger people out of playing,Over a decade of reporting on traumatic brain injuries in sport, and rugby union in particular, I’ve found that the only thing two scientists in the field are likely to agree on is that we need to do more research,They ask for longer studies, bigger studies and better-funded studies,In the meantime it’s up to the governing bodies to educate the participants about the potential risks, and provide the best guidance it can on how to mitigate against them.
One aspect I have come to believe to be unequivocally true after all this reporting, all those interviews, documents and court hearings, is that rugby union failed to do this in the years after the sport turned professional in 1995.Moody grew up in that era.If you’ve read this far it should be clear that his diagnosis can’t necessarily be attributed to the brain trauma he suffered during his playing career.And, while he’s said he would go about things differently if he were playing today, he has never joined the group of players taking legal action against the game’s governing bodies for failing to better protect them from the long-term consequences of playing.He has said that he thinks the idea anyone else was to blame for any damage he may have suffered from playing makes him uncomfortable.
There are plenty of men he played with and against who disagree with him on that.There are five other players who have been diagnosed with MND who have joined the three legal actions across league, union and football.Moody’s own autobiography, Mad Dog, is an invaluable insight into the culture in professional rugby union during this era.He describes being knocked unconscious for five minutes in a match against Tonga in 2007.“The team doc suggested I should come off.
I told him where to go,” Moody wrote.“I’d waited this long to get my chance in the World Cup, and there was no way I was walking off after five minutes.A lineout followed and I had no idea what was going off.”He was hit in the head again later in the same game.Moody didn’t just play on each of the following weekends, he even went along on a team outing to Disneyland Paris on the day after the game, and spent the day riding rollercoasters.
“Every loop the loop was torture, every jerk of my car was like having a needle shoved through my head,” Moody wrote.It is unthinkable behaviour now.It should have been unthinkable then.
Jaguar Land Rover aims to restart limited production after cyber-attack
Some factory workers at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) returned to work on Monday, with the British manufacturer hoping to start making a limited number of cars as soon as this week after a crippling cyber-attack.The first factory expected to restart production is at Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, where JLR makes engines. Some workers are understood to have returned to the site on Monday.Suppliers have also been told JLR may look to restart limited production at its factories in Nitra, Slovakia, and Solihull in the West Midlands by the end of this week, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Nitra makes JLR’s Land Rover Defender, while Solihull – JLR’s biggest site – produces the Range Rover, its flagship luxury model
As London stock market listings show signs of life, Reeves must add momentum | Nils Pratley
After the drought, here comes the rain. Well, more of a light drizzle actually, but three flotations or float announcements in the space of a few days will be a relief for the parched London Stock Exchange.The biggest is Shawbrook, a bank focused on buy-to-let mortgages and lending to small businesses. It was taken off the market in 2017 by a pair of private equity firms, BC Partners and Pollen Street, and should now return by the end of the year with a likely £2bn-ish valuation.The timing is superficially odd because the talk is of higher taxes on banks in Rachel Reeves’s budget next month, but makes sense in other ways
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Sébastien Lecornu’s abrupt resignation as the French prime minister on Monday after less than a month in the role marked the latest clash between France’s stretched public finances and its polarised politics.Lecornu was the latest prime minister to try and fail to cobble together a package of spending cuts and tax rises that would pass muster in a parliament without a clear majority, and contain mounting bond market pressures.Emmanuel Macron is left with the choice of appointing yet another premier to try their luck with the political maths – or resigning himself. Not surprisingly, markets were rattled by the news on Monday.France’s travails are particularly acute, but the president is far from alone in 2025 in trying to grapple with a mismatch between overstretched public finances and a weary electorate with little appetite for budget cuts
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The finances of one of Nigel Farage’s key confidants are being examined by the UK’s tax and revenue authorities amid questions over his income from wealth and business activities, the Guardian understands.The scoping exercise by HMRC is said to be focused on tax residency and the business affairs of George Cottrell, whom Reform UK’s leader Farage has described as “like a son to me”.Known as “Posh George”, Cottrell, 31, leads an expensive lifestyle, frequently travelling around the world and regularly using a £4m house in one of the wealthiest areas of west London.Cottrell has emerged as a senior figure within Reform’s leadership and supporter network at a time when the party is surging ahead in the polls.A recent BMG poll for the i newspaper put the party on 35% – 15 points ahead of Labour
Politics drives markets: euro and Paris stock market slide amid French political crisis; Japanese stocks surge after Takaichi’s victory– business live
Newsflash: France’s stock market has suddenly lurched lower, as political turmoil in Paris ratchets up a notch.The CAC 40 share index has tumbled by 1.8%, following reports that France’s new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, has reportedly resigned!That’s a remarkable development, as Lecornu took office less than a month ago, and unveiled key members of his new government only yesterday.These news alerts, from Reuters, came just before the market tumble:06 Oct 2025 08:42:42 - NEW FRENCH PM LECORNU HAS PRESENTED HIS RESIGNATION TO MACRON - BFM TV CITING ELYSEE06 Oct 2025 08:43:12 - ELYSEE: MACRON HAS ACCEPTED RESIGNATION OF PM LECORNUTime to wrap up….Political drama in Paris and Tokyo have gripped investors today, with mounting anxiety over politicians’ ability to address rising government debt levels
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UK regulators have shut down some claims companies and ordered others to stop taking on clients as they step up a crackdown on firms making misleading statements about car finance compensation.Four regulators have joined forces to tackle a wave of bad practices among claims management companies (CMCs) and consumer law firms that are attempting to grab a slice of the billions of pounds in compensation set to be paid to victims of the car finance commission scandal.On Tuesday the Financial Conduct Authority is due to announce more details of a planned official compensation scheme for people who have lost out, which should mean payouts begin next year.Millions of people are in line for compensation after a supreme court ruling in August. This largely overturned an earlier ruling that could have led to compensation payouts of up to £44bn but will still result in a redress scheme covering some car loans dating back to 2007 that could mean up to £18bn is paid out
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