Australia's major contact sport codes have responded to the revised concussion position statement from the Australian Institute of Sport released on Thursday.
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The updated 2024 Concussion Brain Health Position Statement includes new youth and community sport guidelines that are set to prompt plenty of discussion among the nation's sportings bodies, with increased stand-down periods suggested for concussions in children and adults in community sport.
The updated guidelines are now in line with world-class standards in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and also include recommendations for professional athletes.
The Canberra Times contacted the four major contact sport codes to confirm whether they would endorse the updated position statement on concussions.
As of Thursday, 27 sport and health organisations had backed the updated AIS position statement with more expected in the coming weeks.
Rugby Australia said it had "been engaged with the AIS" in relation to the recent announcement.
"Concussion, head trauma and the health and safety of all participants at all levels of sport is an incredibly important issue for Rugby Australia - player safety has always been, and remains our number one priority," a statement read.
"We welcome the extremely valuable input on this issue.
"Rugby Australia remains in dialogue with Concussion in Sport Australia regarding the position statement. Rugby Australia's current concussion management protocol for community rugby can be found online."
The NRL said it would "carefully consider" how the updated guidelines could be applied to the game.
"Concussion, head trauma and the health and safety of all participants at all levels of sport is an incredibly important issue for all sports," a spokesperson said.
"The Australian Rugby League Commission is in the process of analysing the guidelines provided and will carefully consider how they may be applied to rugby league."
Meanwhile, the AFL acknowledged the AIS announcement and reiterated the "health and safety of players at all levels" was a "number one priority".
"Each year we review our concussion guidelines for elite and community football and that process for 2024 is ongoing," the statement read.
And a Football Australia spokesperson said "while we find value in AIS's guidelines, we believe in a tailored approach for effective concussion management in football".
Cricket Australia added it will "consider all relevant information" and Netball Australia's newly implemented concussion policy is under a "review process" to see how the AIS guidelines could be applied.
The new guidelines advise children aged 19 and under to be completely free of concussion symptoms for 14 days before they can return to contact training. This also applies to all other incidences of concussion in community sport.
The mandatory minimum stand-down period following sport-related concussions has also been extended to 21 days from the time of the head injury to returning to competitive contact sport.
There is also a recommendation for high performance and professional athletes over 19 to have daily access to healthcare staff that can advise them on returning after 10 symptom-free days following concussion.
The 27 organisations that have endorsed the AIS updates include: Athletics Australia, Aus Cycling, Badminton Australia, Baseball Australia, Combat Australia, Golf Australia, Gymnastics Australia, Hockey Australia, Paddle Australia, Rowing Australia, Skate Australia, Squash Australia, Surfing Australia, Swimming Australia, Touch Football Australia, ACT Academy of Sport, NSW Institute of Sport, Queensland Academy of Sport, Tasmanian Institute of Sport, WA Institute of Sport, Northern Territory Sports Academy, the Australian Olympic Committee, Paralympics Australia, Australian Psychological Society, Connectivity and Traumatic Brain Injury Australia and Disability Sports Australia.