More than 185 former rugby players are expected to take legal action against World Rugby and the governing bodies of England and Wales due to permanent injury caused during their careers.
The 185 former rugby players will be represented by Rylands Legal, while the rest of the players are expected to taking legal action soon.
Former internationals like Steve Thompson (England), Carl Hayman (New Zealand) and Alix Popham (Wales) had suffered from neurological impairments such as early onset dementia, CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease.
Their lawyers say the claims is not about financial compensation, but to make the game safer for the future players.
Meanwhile, the NFL settled lawsuits from thousands of former players in 2013 who developed dementia and other concussion-related health problems.
NFL paid more than $NZ1.3 billion to date and is expected to cost it $NZ1.6 billion.
[Source: NZ Herald]
