Concussion Protocols

Club Statement on Concussion Management

The health and wellbeing of our players and all at our club is key to our club mission.

Concussion and Head impacts can be associated with serious and potentially fatal brain injuries.  These can emerge suddenly or take years to surface and may have long lasting and detrimental impacts.

For this reason our club takes concussion managment very seriously, the following provides the protocols to be followed by our club.

We are obligated to follow both the AFL Community Football guidelines: AFL Central Victoria 2024 Concussion Protocols, and Netball Victoria guidelines NV Concussion Management Policy- Final.pdf (netball.com.au)

A full set of resources to recognise and manage concussion in AFL is here: Concussion Management Club Help | Play AFL, and similar is provided in the netball guidelines link above.

Recognizing concussion:

• Coach accreditation requires they can recognise a concussion event, likewise our trainers and medical staff will be able to determine an actual or suspected concussion event, and in either case the player must be referred to their medical professional for assessment and clearance.

Reporting the Incident:

We ask that the incident be reported using the clubs online quick capture form as soon as practical https://forms.office.com/r/qGNHNNpaCv

Return to training/play:

• Under the new community football guidelines, the earliest that a player suffering a concussion can return to play is on the 21st day post the concussion incident provided they get medical clearance.
• “Medical clearance” is required before players can return to “full-contact” training and “playing”, this means that the player is responsible to have their Medical Professional provide the club a letter providing Medical Clearance following any recognised concussion event.
• Senior players must make the coach aware of medical advice for any return to training/play and take responsibility to train and play within that advice, until Medical Clearance is achieved and evidenced.  Coach has discretion to deny player participation if warranted.
• We do not have the resources to provide, monitoring or specialist training programs for affected individuals at junior level, and take a more cautious approach, junior players must be medically cleared, and provide that in writing to the club, before they can participate in any club training or match.
• Evidence of “Medical Clearance” must be filed with the club secretary secretary@sandhurstfnc.com.au
• If Medical Clearance letter outlines any measures that the player must undertake such as limiting game time, or protective equipment, then the coach must be made aware of it, and determine if it can be implemented or managed effectively before allowing play.  The coach and any supporting staff would consult the committee if they have any concerns, and the committee has discretion to de-list the player and potentially refund fees on the grounds that the club cannot reasonably manage meeting the health needs of the affected individual, the AFL/Netball guidelines or our insurance liability obligations.