- AFL legend Garry Lyon hates the word concussion
- He wants football commentators to use the word “brain injury”
- Lyon’s close friend Danny Frawley took his own life in 2019
- Scans revealed CTE in his brain, likely due to his football career
AFL legend Garry Lyon has called on football commentators to correctly label on-field concussions as ‘brain injuries’; His passionate plea comes after losing his close companion Danny Frawley to CTE in 2019.
Lyon’s comments follow growing concerns about the long-term impact of head collisions on the field, with several former players diagnosed in recent years with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) following their deaths.
They include Frawley, Graham Farmer, Murray Weidemann, Shane Tuck and Heather Anderson.
CTE, which is associated with exposure to repeated head trauma, causes memory loss, confusion, depression, and progressive dementia.
‘We (the commentators) say concussion. But what is that? It means the brain is spinning around in the skull,” Lyon said. News Corporation.
AFL legend Garry Lyon has called on football commentators to now label on-field concussions as “brain injuries”.
Lyon’s passionate plea comes after losing close teammate Danny Frawley to CTE in 2019.
‘We should call it a brain injury because that’s what it is… and I will continue to refer to it as a brain injury.
“I’m more than happy to shed light and keep it at the forefront for the powers that be.”
Former St Kilda legend Frawley, who Lyon described as a “hardcore mate”, was diagnosed with CTE after taking his own life the day after his 56th birthday in 2019.
Outside of football, King’s attacks in public, often fueled by alcohol, are now known as “cowardly punches”.
The term is supported by the government and comes after the death of Thomas Kelly in July 2012 when he was attacked by Kieran Loveridge in Sydney’s Kings Cross.
And following an attack on New Year’s Eve 2013, Daniel Christie died days later in hospital after running into a very drunk Shaun McNeil at the same location.
McNeil was later imprisoned for at least seven and a half years after the unprovoked assault.
And according to him Pat Cronin FoundationAt least 170 Australians have been killed by a cowardly punch since 2000.
Men accounted for more than 90 per cent of all victims, a recent study by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine revealed.
When an individual receives a cowardly punch, the impact causes his brain to hit his skull.
The brain can then rebound and hit the other side of the skull, with the “rattling” damaging and tearing the soft tissue.
Bleeding inside the skull or brain, or a hemorrhage, can be fatal without immediate treatment.