Former rugby league stars are set to launch the sport’s first dementia-related court case.
A group of 40 – all under 55 – are showing symptoms of the brain condition and blame concussions and head injuries suffered during their careers.
Many played in the elite Super League and plan to sue governing body the Rugby Football League for negligence.
Rylands Law has arranged brain scans for them and plans to send a pre-action letter in the next six weeks.
It is also acting for the first rugby union players and footballers to bring similar cases.
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Solicitor Richard Boardman said: “One side-effect will hopefully be to get this issue into the public domain and force these sports to become safer.”
American football stars were the first to sue their sport’s governing body in 2011, alleging the NFL hid what it knew about links between concussions and brain injuries.
A settlement worth over £555million was agreed in 2013.
The first UK action was launched last December by rugby union players who suffered brain problems due to repeated blows to the head.
The Mirror has been highlighting the issue of dementia in sport, with the disease ripping through England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad.
Former Leeds rugby league star John Atkinson - pictured above - died aged 71 after a battle with Alzheimer’s in 2017 while the club’s captain Stevie Ward retired aged 27 in January after suffering concussions.
The case against the RFL comes as many clubs face a financial struggle amid the pandemic.
The former players must prove their sport’s governing bodies had a duty of care to them and failed to meet it.
They will also have to prove their playing injuries are to blame.
