now on bbc news, a former wales rugby international takes on his biggest challenge — to prove the game he loves has caused his dementia. commentator: look at this - alix popham drives for - the line — he's there! alix popham's rugby career seemed timed to perfection. as he started playing, the game went professional. he was able to turn his passion into a well—paid job. but he says after more than a decade of putting his body on the line, he's paying a high price. so these are the memories, yeah? that one is my last game

for wales, against england in 2008, my last game. do you remember the game? no, nothing. i know we won. i've seen the jerseys with me with my hands in the air at twickenham, but i can't remember being on the pitch. so you played in the game, you've got the shirt, but you don't remember the game at all? at all. what i've been told is my brain was so inflamed at that period. and most...most of my career, i've said before, i can't remember because we were doing so much contact, my brain was inflamed. so you... the memories weren't storing. so you had an inflamed brain because of the contact you were doing... yes. ..and the hits you were taking, and you were still turning out for wales? wales. club. training. wow. years after he retired from rugby, alix found his memory getting worse. i got lost on a bike ride and it's a bike ride i've done 50, 70 times. and ijust had a blackout moment

and didn't know where i was, and ended up cycling the way i came, i got home and told mel, and the following day i went to see my gp. i thought he had a brain tumour. i decided that must be, you know, the personality differences, the short—term memory. and the september when he came home distressed from the bike ride, i insisted the next morning and made him go straight away that monday morning. my neurologist said, "are you sat down? it's not good news." so mel and i held hands, and he said, with everything put together — the scans, the neuropsychological testing that he gave me — the diagnosis of early onset dementia and probable cte. we were crying, we were screaming. iran into the toilet and was physically sick during that diagnosis phone call. it was such an overwhelming shock.

to be told that your husband, your best friend, your soulmate has got a five—to—ten—year management plan, to think about the potential inevitability of being a single parent to darcey, and holly and isobel losing their dad at a young age is a huge fear for me. are you and your doctors in any doubt that what you have suffered is as a direct result of repetitive blows to your head? yeah, that was his words and that's in my 50—page report. the damage was caused by repetitive head knocks from playing rugby professionally for 14 years. like thousands of other welsh youngsters, alix began playing at a young age. shouts encouragement and every weekend, thousands of boys and girls

across wales are back on the parks... ..watched and coached by rugby—mad parentsjust like me. on a day like this, you can easily see the benefits and the fun of playing rugby. and these kids are just starting out. what i want to know — as a coach and as a parent, and with so much in the news now about concussion and rugby — whether those who run our game have done enough over the years to make sure it's as safe as it can possibly be. go on, boys! it may be making headlines today, but concussion in rugby has been on the news agenda for years, and it's an issue we've looked at in programmes before. in 2010, we spoke to jamie roberts on the physicality of the game. lying in hospital that evening, you just think to yourself, you know, that could have been... ..could have been much worse. you know, it could have been, you know, maybe a brain injury or something similar.

in 2014, in another programme, we interviewed a neuropathologist who'd long been concerned about head injuries in sport. so have things changed? seven years on, we caught up. it's a very slow and slightly frustrating process. i'm slightly depressed and disappointed that sports haven't kind of got together properly on this. why is it a particular problem in physical contact sports? concussion is a form of brain injury. what we believe is happening is, deep down in the brain, the rotational forces, as the head is impacted and the brain rotates inside the skull, that actually there's some stretch and sheer on very fine fibres and blood vessels in there, and that causes some functional change in the brain. rugby today takes concussion on the pitch very seriously. commentator: 0h! look, he was chest to shoulder first. and there he is. he's off, look. i thinkjohnny williams, he had to go off.

just because somebody looks as though they've had a mild brain injury, it doesn't mean that there's not something more significant, serious, possibly life—threatening going on inside the skull. so, from that point of view, get them off the park. there are more red cards for high tackles. commentator: wayne barnes is going for his pocket. - oh, it's that one — it's red. that's a clear attack on the head. it's a red card, nothing else. and anyone suspected of taking a big hit is taken off for a head injury assessment or hia — even if they don't want to go. leaving a player with concussion on the park puts them at much greater risk of more severe injury and prolonged symptoms in recovery. rugby has advanced concussion management detection far further than any other sport. it's now extremely rare for a concussed player at the top level to play on.

but what about in the past? sean holley spent 15 years as a top professional coach. what was the learning curve for you about the dangers of concussion, and that a head knock wasn'tjust something you could get up and carry on with? actually, there was a little bit of a finger in the air, you know? i mean, i've been on many coaching qualification courses and very little was spoken about concussion, you know, and that's why i felt vulnerable when incidents happen. you know, as a coach, you know, what position would i have been in to make a decision on a player the following week? when you look at players like alix popham, what does that make you think about the way they were treated? i feel very sad about that. you know, having coached alix when he was a 17—, 18—year—old, to see him now, as a friend, suffering, struggling, it's very, very sad.

i retired in 2011 and that was the attitude. a bang to the head wasn't classed as an injury, so you could just carry on. and now we know, i mean, that... we know. but they knew then. people knew then that the information, the research was there, but we weren't told. so it wasn't... world rugby, the governing bodies didn't filter down to the coaches, didn't filter down to the medical staff that these. . .that this existed. in december, alix popham and a small group of former players announced they were suing world rugby, the rfu and the welsh rugby union over brain damage. their lawyer believes this is just the beginning. well, based on everything we've seen to date, based on what our experts have read, we believe up to 50% of the rugby—playing community could be impacted by some kind of neurological impairment. that's not to say that everybody

would end up with dementia or a disease at the extreme end of the spectrum. but it can be things like short—term post concussion syndrome, epilepsy and so on. 50% of the rugby—playing community? potentially up to that amount. i mean, we believe this is an epidemic, ultimately. the scale and cause of the problem is hotly debated throughout rugby. former internationaljamie roberts wants better understanding of a problem that could be an issue for many players. it's very kind of sad to hear their stories and, look, i've spoken to alix, erm... ..and it makes me a bit worried, there's no doubt about that. you know, this causation piece is huge for the game. if you could turn round and say, "right, rugby causes "this," you know, 100%, without failure, well, then we're having a different conversation. but that's not established yet.

everyone wants more research. but the dangers of concussion have been discussed for decades. so how much did rugby union know about it? well, more than you might think. as far back as 1975, the then international rugby board held a medical conference in dublin where head injuries were discussed, and they were warned by neurosurgeon geoffrey vanderfield that concussions needed to be taken seriously, as even a slight injury could be life—threatening. the rugby authorities reacted, ruling players had to take a three—week break after a suspected concussion, and they continued to get advice from experts over the following decades. in 1992, at a rugby medical conference in new zealand, the message from two neurosurgeons is pretty blunt. they say there's good evidence of some permanent effect

from a single concussion. and if they have a third concussion, they shouldn't be selected to play again and should be advised to take up a non—contact sport. world rugby told us there are different opinions on how concussion should be managed, but they were unaware of any current guidelines or research recommending that players should retire after three concussions. back when rugby union was amateur, it was the job of former players with medical backgrounds to keep an eye on concussion — like former ireland international dr barry 0'driscoll. barry. wyre! how are you? welcome, here, to our cold north. they created a working party on concussion, and i was put on the working party. then i got really involved and interested. and it was a time of great revelation about what was happening in concussion. and we weren't hearing anything particularly good about it, really.

but as the sport turned professional, rugby union relied more on advice from external experts. in 2008, the concussion in sport group said it was ok to come back within seven days. and we had three weeks. and, in my innocence, i thought, "well, these guys know a lot "more about it than me, because i haven't got enough "experience in all this yet." and...| sort of accepted that. do you now regret going along with that decision to bring it down from three weeks to seven days? in retrospect, yes, very much. dr 0'driscoll became increasingly unhappy with policy on concussion, and in 2012 he resigned in protest. it's been my life, and a huge, huge amount for me and my family. i think what came into consideration was, we don't want to damage the game too much as far

as the commercial side goes. we want players back, and if you can find a justification for them to get back, we want them back as soon as we can. world rugby told us they always put player welfare first above any other considerations — commercial or otherwise. as dr 0'driscoll was resigning, this young player's career was taking off. youth international adam hughes was one of several top academy players aiming for the big time... ..little realising how concussion would change his life. i started playing, actually, quite young. growing up in cwmbran, playing for croesyceiliog as a youngster, it was just rugby — that's all your life was. and that's all you wanted it to be. was there a lot of contact, as well? yeah. yeah, there was a lot of contact in those days.

it was... that's when. .. i feel coaches back then were trying to work out, you know, who's got it, who hasn't. and that used to be the way of really trying to find that out. adam made it as a pro, embarking on a career with top sides in wales and england. at what point did you first become aware of concussion as a serious issue for rugby players? around about 22, 23, which is when i suffered quite a few head knocks within a short period of time. and ijust realised it was taking me longer and longer to recover from these knocks. but if you've got a game coming up, you're not feeling quite right, you've just recently taken a head knock, but you're thinking, "if i don't play this game, that could be me gone, "that could be my contract gone." and that's, again, one of the downsides of professional sport. in 2016, another major concussion. i tried to come back, and routine knocks werejust causing me a lot, a lot of issues, and that's when i made the decision, then — i played my last game

in ulster, away. atjust 27, adam hughes was forced to retire. a scan had revealed permanent damage to his brain. at the time, i was suffering really badly from symptoms you'd usually associate with high—speed car crashes. the problem was, and what we wouldn't have realised back before, is that it wasn'tjust one high—speed car crash — it was one, two, three, four, within a couple of weeks of each other, which is unprecedented in the normal world. when you saw the results of the brain scan, did you immediately stop playing rugby or did you carry on for a bit? i never played a game of rugby after that. i think, based on what i know now, that they definitely knew more back then. and that makes you... it begs the question, really, why would you not have done more about it? if world rugby knew, i'm sure the unions knew, as well. by now, scientists were becoming increasingly worried, notjust by big concussions, but also subconcussive blows that left no initial symptoms.

evidence was mounting these could cause a form of dementia known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy — or cte. it's what alix believes has happened to him, and notjust in the games themselves. the amount of contact i did in training for my clubs, the amount of games that i played — it's most probably more than 100,000. when you turn professional — driving line—outs, tackling, bone on bone, 15 against 15 — there was always contact every day. we only see in people who've had a history of brain injury, this chronic traumatic encephalopathy. a direct link causation is a really difficult thing to prove, but i think there's more than enough evidence that, on a balance of probabilities, being exposed to repetitive head impacts and head injuries in your younger part of life is not good for late outcomes. until somebody comes forward with evidence that banging your head

over and over and over and over again is safe, we should just review that as an unsafe practice. soon after alix retired, there was a landmark legal challenge in america. in 2013, the nfl reached a $765 million out—of—court settlement with a group of former players. it's also a sport that's seen big changes. ten years ago, the nfl players association fought successfully for better player protection. key was reducing contact in training and between games. they don't need to be bashing heads to be able to play football the way the coaches want. so i think the dirty little secret of the coaches and the effect was eliminated by a careful negotiation.

but how important was it that that was a rule that was agreed by you and the nfl and it came down from above as a hard rule? oh, it's critical. it was initially resisted, but now fully embraced by the nfl. under the agreement, contact sessions in training camps have been halved. and once the season begins, only one contact training session a week is allowed, with none in the final month. how many fewer hits is an average player now taking over their career as a direct result of the changes you brought in in 2011? our best estimate is 70,000 over the course of a career, which is a big number. so would you say rugby has a problem by failing to change the things that you did a decade ago in american football? yes, i would say that... yes, because they are so similar in many, many respects. and i can assure you that it won't change the nature of the game.

seven years ago, when we looked again at head injuries in rugby, subconcussions were the focus. we need to take the responsibility out of players' hands, as well, because on numerous occasions they won't report concussion. so stakeholders such as referees, as i mentioned before, coaches, pitch—side practitioners, first aiders, etc, need to be given that responsibility, as well. a reassuring message. but did it hit home? a few years ago, academics here at cardiff metropolitan university carried out a couple of studies to find outjust how much players, coaches, referees and medics knew about concussion. you have to say, the results were startling. at the elite level, over 60% of referees and coaches incorrectly believed that headgear and mouth

guards could prevent concussion. most worryingly, in professional rugby, 80% of medical staff said they'd felt under pressure to give the all—clear to a concussed player. one of those behind the research was the wru's prav matheema. if 80% of medical staff are saying they're feeling under pressure, then that isn't an ideal situation at all, is it? well, what i would say, actually, with regards to the research that had been conducted is that, you know, until we know where our base level starts from, as well, is that, you know, how can we actually approach and how can we actually address any of these issues? we delivered our education process. and then what we did was we redid our research again to see how effective that education was. and i'm really pleased to say that, you know, that that education has shown an increase in the knowledge across players, referees — importantly, coaches.

rugby is a growing sport. over two million women now play. and, as with the men's game, there's always the risk of injury. we had one of those big kind of anniversary games and i got dropped on my head and i had a huge seizure. i had a ct scan to check for brain bleeds. no brain bleed. so a couple of weeks later, i'm back at training, i'm back in pre—season. come on, let's go for it, alex. let's go for it, alex! nic evans has played for wales. she also says she played for her club after a major concussion. every single time i trained, every single time my heart rate went up, i felt sick, ifelt nauseous i had headaches. i felt really low. what were you told about the dangers of concussion and how bad it could be? i wasn't. erm, i had a neurologist

appointment and he said it was a concussive seizure, and that he'd only actually ever seen it in boxing before. he'd not actually seen it in a rugby player, and certainly not in a female rugby player. some experts now believe that women playing a contact sport are twice as likely to suffer concussion than men. what this evidence is telling us is that — funnily enough — males and females are different. and this one—size—all approach to concussion, which is based almost exclusively on research in men — it's not going to fit. we're not really hearing any female voices on this. and if women are going to hit their 40s, 50s, 60s, working age and have a risk of dementia, then that's a real negligence, isn't it? with former players asking questions about the past, there are calls for rugby to make changes now to better protect players. 0verdue for many is reducing the level of contact

and hits in training. do you understand why they didn't make the changes that the nfl made? no, i don't. i think it was such a, erm, a widely publicised thing, and such an obvious thing when you look back now, er, i am surprised. different coaches like different things. some put a big contact day, or a smash day in early in the week to get all their contacts out of the way without really knowing the full implications of them. so, you know, ithink a programme of, er, a month of sessions you can have with contact in, in place, would eradicate all of that sort of anomaly. so things have to happen. and i think the awareness this is creating now, i think will... not force the arm, but will make world rugby see that some changes have to be made for the good of our game. world rugby told us they welcomed input from everyone in the game. what they call "training load" is constantly under review, and they issued guidance on this before the last world cup.

they also say rugby's very different to the nfl. the wru agrees. it's a difficult one to compare two different sports, because they are different. you know, they're totally different. indeed, head injuries are more frequent in rugby than american football. well, again, you know, i don't want to start, you know, talking about other sports, etc. i'm here just to talk about rugby union. you know, we have to look at, you know, the science. we will never sit still when it comes to safety within the game. that is the overriding and clear message that, as a governing body, we will make sure that we support player welfare. and, you know, it's certainly our aim to make sure that, you know, the sport is as safe as it can be. world rugby says the detection of concussion has improved and it acts on scientific research to reduce the risks further. they're saddened by the accounts of former players, recognising it hasn't been easy for them to speak out, and says it cares

deeply about past, present and future players. rugby union is at a crossroads on concussion. the full scale of the problem may take years to be revealed. but those involved in the game welcome the fact at least the debate is out in the open. it's going to force people to start research projects, to look deeper into the issues at hand. and, as i said, these decisions are all made off data. given the number of knocks you had, what worries you about what you might learn in a few years' time? erm... you know, when i hear about these players and the issues they're having, er, you know, alix and the likes... ..you know, it is a bit scary. let's be honest about it. you know, the great thing about what alix and those guys

are doing is that they're going to help drive, hopefully, a body of research that goes on to further conversation and further provide evidence for the powers that be to make the right decision. there's no doubt that all of those involved in rugby want it to prosper, but legal action is looming. there are demands for answers about the future safety of the game and what the consequences of the past may be. there are still people who say we need more evidence, we need more proof... come and live with me for a week, come and live in my house for a week. i've lived through it. i'm living through it. i've seen the black—and—white scans that show the damage in my husband's brain. who knows what's going to happen in the future with the damage that has been done? but i've always been a positive thinker and just trying to do as much as i can, er, to be able to help now, my wife, the girls, to keep me as me for as long as possible.

hello there. as far as bank holiday weekends go, this has been one of the better ones. we did have some cloud for a while earlier on today, particularly through the midlands, but that has melted away — plenty of sunshine through the rest of the day. a bit of cloud just flirting with some of these north sea coasts. another warm day, temperatures typically into the low 20s, could make 2a or 25 in the london area. heading into this evening, then, a fine end to the day, plenty of sunshine to end the day. 0vernight, many places will keep clearer skies, not expecting as much of that low cloud to push inland, mainly affecting parts of yorkshire, lincolnshire and into some eastern areas of scotland. after the warm sunshine of today, temperatures for many overnight should remain in double

figures as well. heading into tomorrow, there will be some areas of low cloud to start the day, but those should tend to lift and break up, the sunshine coming through in the morning. still, there may be some of these north sea coasts, north east england, eastern scotland could stay cooler and cloudier, otherwise lots of sunshine once again. the winds will be light. and those temperatures could be a shade higher than today. so we are looking at 25, maybe even 26 degrees around greater manchester, merseyside, london and the south—east. but it is going to be strong sunshine we have again tomorrow. uv levels will be high. if you are near the coast and want to cool down a little bit, you certainly will be able to that in the sea. these are the sea temperatures. not very high at this time of year of course. highest of all through the english channel and southern parts of the north sea. so some more warm sunshine, high temperatures on tuesday. heading into wednesday we start to see the weather changing a bit, because lowering pressure, moving up form biscay, is going to bring some showers into the south—west of england and wales. these could be heavy and thundery. eventually we could get a few showers coming

into northern ireland, across to hampshire and even merseyside as well. ahead of that, it will be dry and sunny once again. it will be warm for many areas. highest temperatures all the way from western scotland down through the midlands, towards the south—east of england. it will be cooler around those north sea coasts, a breeze coming in off the north sea. that wind won't be as strong on thursday. by thursday, what's left of the showers — and they are more hit—and—miss — and a band of cloud moving up heading into scotland. sunny spells following on behind. the air won't be as warm on thursday, but in the sunshine it is still quite pleasant, highs of 22 or 23 celsius.

this is bbc news. the headlines. the fight against coronavirus steps up a gear, with england's largest mass vaccination centre opening with the potential to give 15,000 doses in one day. it comes amid warnings from some scientists that the final stage of unlocking in england — due onjune 21st — should be delayed by a few weeks. the government says its taking things "one step at a time". a temporary ban on bailiff—enforced evictions, introduced in england at the start of the pandemic, comes to an end. china announces that families can now have three children — up from the current limit of two — as data shows a steep decline in the number of births. 0pposition politicians in israel continue their talks and look close to a deal — which would end the premiership of benjamin netanyahu.

people flock to beaches on bank holiday monday,