“I started Love of the Game to drive awareness and funding of solutions that can prevent, diagnose, and treat concussion in sport, not just rugby, but all sports, and not just elite players but amateurs, kids, veterans, everyone. We want to protect players and the integrity of the games we love.”
Simon Shaw
Campaign President, Love of the Game
For the third year in a row, we’re partnering with Love of the Game to host an event focused on concussion awareness. We spoke with Simon Shaw, the co-founder and former rugby player, about the charity’s work, its achievements, and what’s next.
Tell us about Love of the Game and what inspired you to create this charity?
I was injured a few times in my rugby career and where this was a muscle, a tendon a bone, everyone knew what to do, how to fix it and how to rehabilitate so that I could carry on playing safely. When I was knocked out, no one knew what to do, no one knew how severe it might be or how to recover. Like many others I played on because I didn’t want to lose my place on the team. I started Love of the Game to drive awareness and funding of solutions that can prevent, diagnose and treat concussion in sport, not just rugby, all sports, and not just elite players but amateurs, kids, veterans, everyone, so that people are protected, can recover from head injuries and carry on playing. In this way we protect players, but we also protect the integrity of the games we love.
What’s been your proudest moment to date whilst in your role as President?
I’ve had many proud moments as President. The first tech showcase that we ran virtually during the Pandemic which attracted the brightest minds from some of our great academic institutions, they came up with new head protection, with impact assessors, with apps to track recovery and much more. Swiftly followed by a tech demonstration of international technology already being used, but not understood by our sporting bodies or medical community. And then, the founding of the UK Concussion Network at 20 university teaching hospitals and the launch of the Government’s amateur sports concussion guidelines, drafted by our own Love of the Game medical advisor along with the Chairs of our UK Concussion Network.
This is the third year Love of the Game and Unispace have partnered. Tell us a bit more about this relationship and how the worlds of sport and workplace have come together.
Unispace have been immense in their understanding of a large societal issue which can be dealt with in simple, intelligent ways with the material and talent at hand. These ways of solving problems, identifying talent and empowering people are consistent across sport and the workplace. So too the strength of teamwork, that is one of the greatest learnings that sport has brought to business and with Unispace on our team, we have been able to accelerate key parts of our work at Love of the Game. Through each of our Unispace events we have been able to showcase important technology, we have raised vital funds to deliver our mission, and we have introduced new people to our work. In return, we hope that the quality of each event, entirely orchestrated by Unispace, and the impact of each event on our charitable mission, demonstrates to new and existing clients what a strong choice Unispace is as the next member of their team.
What’s next for Love of the Game?
The Amateur Sports concussion guidelines in which Love of the Game was so instrumental, were released by Government but I am frustrated by the lack of action to get these to schools, clubs and sports organisations. Our UK guidelines have since been adopted by the Australian Government and mandated. The former Government lagged behind others yet they were instrumental in leading the world in developing these guidelines. I hope that a new Government and increased awareness of the concussion guidelines, along with new technology coming through Love of the Game will go on to protect many more players, now and for the long term.
About Love of the Game
Love of the Game seeks to unite the fields of sport, technology, science, academia and business to identify, invest and implement innovative solutions that will mitigate the health risks arising in so many sports, whether team or individual, contact or non-contact.
Through their unique network of supporters representing the UK’s major sports, government, academic institutions and business, they seek to drive awareness and funding of the research and development of solutions to aid in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of head injuries, concussion and related problems.
With their collective passion, goodwill and expertise their aim is to reduce, manage or cure concussion related injuries, ensure the longevity of players’ games and careers, and safeguard the integrity of the sports we know and love.
