The AFL has apologised to past players who were “let down” by the league’s concussion research project after an independent review criticised the under- funded and under-resourced study.
The league commissioned an independent review into plagiarism allegations against Associate Professor Paul McCrory and other issues connected with research and medical work on sports-related concussion.
Plagiarism was identified but the panel found it did not “affect or taint” McCrory’s work for the AFL, including its concussion guidelines, largely because they didn’t “involve the falsification or fabrication of relevant research.”
The 260-page report was highly critical of the AFL and Florey Institute’s ‘Past Player Project’, launched in 2014.
“It found the research project was under-funded and under-resourced and suffered from a lack of governance, stewardship and coordination in how it was rolled-out and implemented, and how it simultaneously accommodated clinical and research objectives,” the review’s major findings said.
(C) AAP
