- Schofield is in the Rugby League, Hull FC and Leeds Rhinos Hall of Fame
- He played 46 times for Great Britain and has been an expert in his retirement.
- The 59-year-old has announced that he will be stepping away from the game.
- READ: Why the world’s biggest sports agency has big plans to make rugby league Britain’s second most popular sport
Rugby League legend Garry Schofield has revealed he has a serious brain condition that will lead to dementia.
The 59-year-old pundit is a member of the Rugby League Hall of Fame and is famous for playing for both Hull FC and Leeds Rhinos, where he also holds a place in the clubs’ version of recognition.
Schofield, who also played for teams such as Balmain Tigers and Doncaster during his career, has 46 caps for Great Britain and three for England and began training when he finished playing.
Now, however, he has announced that he will no longer be the center of attention after receiving his diagnosis about 20 months ago.
He has detailed how he was diagnosed with brain damage and detailed in his final report Total Rugby League column how the problems arose.
Rugby League legend Garry Schofield has revealed he has a serious brain condition that will lead to dementia.
The 59-year-old coach announced that he will step away from football to focus on his health.
“I was diagnosed with brain damage in March 2023 and have kept it a secret until now,” he wrote. ‘The symptoms, which I will share with you, are horrendous.
“I’ve been told I’ll end up with dementia, so it’s time to quit the game and focus on my health.
‘I can trace my problems back to December 2019, when I had surgery to fix a detached retina in my left eye. But it was not successful. Five or six days later, I felt like my head was going to explode. He needed seven more operations and three laser procedures.
‘Eye pressure should be between five and 23 mmHg (millimeters of mercury), however my readings were 82, 79, 78, 68, 67, 58, 44 and 40, which were literally off the chart. The hospital told me I should be on the floor, crying in pain with those readings.’
One of his eyes was removed during the process, which the surgeon said was “destroyed.”
Schofield also wrote that he has since suffered from “headaches, migraines, forgetfulness, anxiety, and lack of concentration.”
He has been a vocal expert during his retirement, but included in the column that “you will no longer hear or see me interviewed.”
He also explained how his eye was removed due to the condition and the circumstances that led to the diagnosis.
Having revealed that he would be stepping away from the game to focus on his health, he took one final parting shot.
“One of the reasons I’m not too sad to end this column is that sport no longer excites me,” he wrote. ‘The product on the field is not as entertaining as it should be.
“And off the field, everything is so clean that if you’re not constantly ‘on message’ and 100 percent ‘positive’ about everything, then there’s no place for you.
“A governing body and clubs have excluded balanced critical analysis from the English Rugby League simply for the selfish reason that they do not appreciate scrutiny.”