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5 months ago
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A prominent rugby league journalist has hit his colleague and anti-concussion crusader Peter FitzSimons with a stunning spray for treating NRL figures and fans as 'bogans'.
Former Wallaby FitzSimons, now a prominent columnist and author, has clashed with NRL personalities in recent times over his hardline stance on concussions that lead to the deadly brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
FitzSimons re-ignited his ongoing feud with former player and current NRL360 co-host James Graham by saying Roosters captain James Tedesco should retire after he was knocked out in a match against the Bulldogs.
Graham said that FitzSimons was 'talking nonsense' and using Tedesco's profile to push his own relevance.
Journalist Andrew Webster (pictured) has called his colleague FitzSimons 'condescending' and told him to stop treating NRL fans and stakeholders like 'out of touch bogans'
FitsSimons (pictured with wife Lisa Wilkinson) has been a long-term critic of the NRL's attempts to prevent concussions and the deadly brain disease CTE
'This type of behaviour [from FitzSimons] is using our game and the very serious issue of concussion to stay alive,' he said.
Now FitzSimons' Sydney Morning Herald colleague Andrew Webster has lashed out at his workmate in a no-holds-barred column on Friday.
Webster said FitzSimons wrote a 'condescending' and 'personal' piece reacting to his story warning the NRL not to overreact to calls to ban kickoffs after Dragons star Moses Suli was knocked out cold in the Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters last Thursday.
Webster wrote that the NRL should abandon 'cosmetic changes' like calls to ban the kickoff and seriously address tackling technique to prevent incidents like Suli from happening, starting at junior football level.
FitzSimons called for Sydney Roosters captain James Tedesco to retire after he suffered a concussion against the Bulldogs this year
Newcastle captain Kalyn Ponga (pictured being taken off the ground after a collision) is another NRL player who has had extensive problems due to head knocks
Dragons star Moses Suli was knocked out cold in the first play of the Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters - and Webster's column on the reaction to the incident resulted what he called a 'personal' piece by FitzSimons
FitzSimons then responded in his Thursday column, quoting 'one of the world’s foremost concussion advocates' in Dr Chris Nowinski.
He pointed to change in rugby union and the NFL that had not eroded at the fabric of those games and said major changes needed to be made in the NRL as well.
'So, just where do you draw the line at making the game safer? I will go with drawing the line at brain health, at not insisting on keeping a minor part of the game that is causing damage being done,' he wrote.
'The game has a legal and moral obligation to sort this stuff.'
Talk to some of the older league players. It ain't actually like that.
Stories of early dementia and hardship are legion. Just as it is in the NFL.
I did a story for Channel Seven on it a decade ago in the USA, and among their former players of a certain age, it was shocking. https://t.co/6SRB6LUDXH
That was enough for Webster, who put FitzSimons on blast for how he has framed his ongoing crusade against concussions in sport.
'When colleague Peter FitzSimons writes a piece as condescending and personal as the one published online by the Herald on Thursday, well, you've got to fight,' he wrote.
'FitzSimons took exception to my column on Monday about the debate kicking around in the NRL concerning the kick-off and how it should be banned to avoid concussions
'As his long-time colleague, it hurt but didn't surprise. He does these things to most people who offer a contrary or slightly different position to him on concussion.
'He has been relentless. He lectures players, most recently Roosters captain James Tedesco, about retiring. He's slammed clubs, coaches, and commentators.
'His constant take-downs of former Bulldogs captain James Graham, who has talked openly about his own concussion issues in a well-meaning podcast with The Australian, have become tedious.
'It's too much. Rugby league people are growing tired of being positioned as out-of-touch bogans who don't care about their own.'
Daily Mail Australia has contacted FitzSimons for comment.
James Graham, who admitted to feeling the impacts of numerous concussions during his playing days, has repeatedly clashed with his bitter rival FitzSimons
Champion NRL player and coach Paul Green took his own life in 2022 - and was then discovered to have been suffering from the shattering effects of CTE
FitzSimons had not returned serve on Friday morning, but he did respond to a follower on social media platform X who brought up a point about senior citizens battling with CTE after playing contact sport when they were younger.
'Ex footballer patients with early-onset dementia are a nightmare to look after. Even older ones are still physically strong and incredibly aggressive,' the follower posted.
'Extremely challenging to deescalate without chemical intervention. And many dementia units in nursing homes can't manage them.'
FitzSimons agreed with the point and said it was a key reason why he was going so hard for rule changes in the NRL to prevent concussions.
'Yup. The stories and reality are deeply distressing. It is worst of all for the families who have to deal with it, and most particularly the wives. Absolutely tragic,' he replied.
'By and large those confronted with the reality of older footballers with CTE - the absolute tragedy of what they and their families face - can't help but go hard on changing the rules, so the footballers of now have more chance to avoid the same fate.'
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