Contact sports will be gone in a generation: US doctor predicts

Concussion risks from games like rugby too high, says the doctor who first described CTE
Dr Bennet Omalu, the US pathologist who first described chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, has predicted contact sports such as rugby union will die out in a generation.  He said the sports as rugby league, rugby union, American football and Australian rules would fall out of favour, rather than be banned, owing to their concussion risks. Dr Omalu, a physician and forensic pathologist discovered the abnormal build-up of tau protein in the brain of deceased footballer Mike Webste
Dr Bennet Omalu. Photo: AAP

Dr Bennet Omalu, the US pathologist who first described chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, has predicted contact sports such as rugby union will die out in a generation.

He said the sports as rugby league, rugby union, American football and Australian Rules would fall out of favour, rather than be banned, owing to their concussion risks.