"This is just not good enough. I won't be letting my grandchildren play for this club."
I managed to track down the player who was knocked out and he told me that in hindsight he shouldn't have played on.
"Yeah, I just sort of remember standing on the field and wondering what happened.
"They asked me a couple of questions like 'did I know where I was?' and 'who I was playing?' and I played on.
"After what happened to that teenager up north, I think I was maybe pretty lucky. I'm not playing now."
Why did they let him carry on? Is it the harden-up-and-get-on-with it culture of rugby? Is it because players and coaches don't know how serious the consequences of concussion are?
I'm most likely going to be shot down in flames by people in the rugby world for my opinion. After all, what would I know?
Actually, I don't know a hell of a lot about rugby. I know some past and present All Blacks' names but only the ones who have been or are famous for being good, or infamous for being bad.
I don't even know all the rules.
My biggest claim to fame in the rugby world is that I once interviewed Colin Meads when he was in Napier years ago.
What I do know about rugby is that it can be brutal. I've watched players being lifted off their feet and dumped on their heads. I imagine the majority of the time this is not done on purpose.
I guess when your job is to stop the man with the ball getting past you, in the heat of the moment you would grab whatever part of their body you could.
When I played netball at the Windsor Park courts and softball at Akina Park, a St John ambulance was always parked there.
St John nurses would be right on hand to treat strains and sprains and give advice on injuries. I remember them well because my mother was one of the nurses. She says they went to the sports parks so the nurses could get some experience.
I know that's not going to happen these days and we don't want a kneejerk reaction to the terrible death of Jordan Kemp. I'm not talking about players wearing helmets (wait on, there's a thought ... just kidding) but all precaution should be taken with our young sport players.
Accidents happen no matter what sport you play but perhaps it's time for the rugby culture of "harden up and get back out there and go as hard as you can" to think about the consequences.
I bet some players feel pressured to stay on the field. They don't want to let the side down or look like a "sissy".
It's up to coaches to take that decision away from them and make them stand down.
