Former Wales rugby star says he has ‘no recollection’ of his career due to head injuries

• A former Wales rugby star can no longer remember key moments in his career
• He had more than 100,000 sub-concussions during a 14-year playing career 

By LUKE POWER

Former Wales rugby star Alix Popham has revealed he has ‘no recollection’ of his career after having more than 100,000 sub-concussions.

Popham, 45, played 33 times for Wales and amassed over 320 appearances for clubs in his homeland as well as England and France.

He was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2020 and now jerseys and medals are his only memories of a 14-year professional career in rugby union. 

‘My neurologist, when he diagnosed me, they worked out I had over 100,000 sub-concussive hits in my brain,’ he told Newsnight. 

According to Popham, a sub-concussion as ‘when your brain rattles around inside against your skull on every hit’.

He is one of around 560 players who are suing the sport’s governing bodies, blaming rugby for crippling brain injuries after suffering repeated blows to the head.

Former Wales star Alix Popham says he cannot remember his career due to head injuries

Popham, 45, played 33 times for Wales and made over 320 appearances at club level

Now, jerseys and medals are the only reminder of his 14-year professional career for a star who was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2020

In 2023 they alleged that 268 players sustained illnesses, including dementia and depression, as a result of the contact which is baked into the game. 

While Pohham still has match shirts and memorabilia, he said: ‘Memories, vivid memories of the scoreline, the weather, the stadium, I’ve got no recollection of that.’

Popham is the founder of the Head for Change charity. He has also called for longer bans for red cards of six-to-eight weeks. 

‘These players are getting two or three week bans which really isn’t enough to make them change their habits and, to me, that just shows player welfare isn’t their number one priority,’ he said. 

In 2021, he started undergoing experimental brain treatment in Mexico, conducted by pioneering American biotech firm Neurocytonix for incurable neurological disorders.

He said in 2023: ‘Things are a lot better. I don’t lose my train of thought anywhere near as much.

‘I could feel positive signs after day three. I would suffer with headaches in the afternoons during my career and in retirement. Some afternoons I would have to lay in a dark room.

‘It (the Mexico treatment) was a very positive step forward for me. There are so many ex-players who are struggling, suicidal and depressed and we have got to give them hope.’

Popham (second left) has undergone experimental brain treatment in Mexico in recent years

The Mexican treatment could give future hope to rugby stars diagnosed with dementia

Popham said there was an improvement, which he noticed after three days of treatment

Popham first noticed something was wrong with his health when he couldn’t remember his way home from a bike ride.

He was eventually diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable CTE.

The treatment in Mexico, which Popham first received in March 2021, is designed to stimulate brain regeneration to restore the structure of the nervous system. It is seen as a new approach in treating neurological diseases such as cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injuries. 

Football pundit Chris Kamara was also treated at Neurocytonix in Mexico for his speech apraxia.

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Former Wales rugby star says he has ‘no recollection’ of his career due to head injuries

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