IF YOU WERE watching Saracens’ Aviva Premiership match against London Irish on Saturday, you may have noticed players such as Owen Farrell wearing a white sticker behind their ear.
The players were wearing an impact sensor which the club say is the first stage of a “ground breaking programme to determine the effects of concussion on rugby players.”
The device, similar to that featured on TheScore.ie in November, is produced by the Seattle based X2 Biosystems and is used to measure the force and direction of impact to the head.
In a statement on the Saracens’ website, chief executive Edwards Griffiths said:
“We’re collecting data because we want answers.
“In simple terms, we don’t want to meet our players in 20 or 25 years’ time, to find them suffering from dementia or any similar condition, and to reflect we suspected something was going on but we didn’t really know.
“We want to know.”
While the current sensor doesn’t measure real time data, Saracens hope the technology will advance to do so by the end of the season to provide more accurate information.
Edwards continued:
“We aspire to be a club that genuinely looks after its players, and nothing is more important than their medium and long term welfare.
“At Saracens, we feel obliged to ask these questions without delay and to seek answers, however uncomfortable they may be. The findings will be reported in due course.”
