Teen SA country footballer forced to find new sport after eight concussions

Angus Pitman had a promising football career ahead of him, but after eight concussions on the country footy field by the age of 16, he was forced to leave behind the game he loved.

It was a devastating blow after playing several matches with the SA National Football League's (SANFL) West Adelaide development squad and having his heart set on footy.

"I still made the effort to come out and run water at the local games [after my concussions], because it's where all your mates are and where all the community is," he said.

When he was no longer able to play football, Pitman was asked to become an assistant coach at his local Renmark Rovers club and turned to rowing as an alternative sport.

"I didn't play any sport for about a year because I was going through year 12 and it was a bit too much … so I started [going to] the gym … to get my mind off of things," he said.

"Dad said, 'Go have a crack,' with the rowing and I just stayed around.

"The [local club] created an out-of-school program which I was included in because there was no-one my age … now we've been training four or five times a week and I'm loving it."

After five months of training and competing in local rowing events in the Riverland, the now 18-year-old has his sights set on rowing competitively in the future.

"The Rowing Australia benchmark [for junior men] is covering eight and a half kilometres in 30 minutes and at the moment I'm rowing 8.2 kilometres," Pitman said.

Head knock risk is real

The ABC's Four Corners program revealed more than 30 Australian Rules football players had been diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

It can only be diagnosed after death and is caused by repeated hits to the head.

Traumatic brain injury researcher Frances Corrigan said repeated head bumps over time could also increase the risk of other diseases like motor neurone, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

She said more research was needed into the impact of repeated head hits and concussions.

"We're not sure which people are going to be most at risk," the associate professor from Adelaide University said.

"With concussions, everyone's recovery trajectory can be quite individual.

"At the moment, we can't determine which people are going to recover well … [or] which will recover more slowly from their initial presentation."

Concussion rule questions

Under community AFL guidelines, a player who suffers a concussion can only return to play on the 21st day after a concussion if they get medical clearance.

Murray Valley Football Netball League president Andrew Schultz said while the rule was clear, it required people to self-report and there was potential to "cut corners".

He said some clubs, especially those short on numbers, could be downplaying the impact of a head knock if there was pressure about getting into finals or a best player was taken out.

"The protocols that are in place and how they're followed all flows down to what does happen on Saturday at a club level," he said.

"From the AFL through down through [to] our country leagues there's been a big revamp in the last few years and … they've really focused on [concussions].

"Some clubs are getting it right, some clubs aren't."

SANFL executive general manager football Matt Duldig told 891 ABC Adelaide's Jo Laverty while there was still work to do, the game had "never been safer from an incident perspective".

"Our game is underpinned by volunteers … it's what makes community football so good across South Australia," he said.

"We need to make volunteers and coaches feel comfortable in taking a player off the field ensuring that they sit out for that minimum three weeks.

"There's always education to be done."

The AFL was contacted for comment.

Pitman said while he had not seen any corners being cut during his playing days, his message to the next crop of footy faithful was to take any knock seriously.

"I reckon some kids might get a concussion and no-one will even know about it,"

he said.

"They won't put up their hand because they don't want to miss the next week of footy."