Originally Posted by
Ronan Murphy
"[Roy] Keane's claim ["If you're worried about the physical side of any sport, then play chess."] is a very irresponsible statement to make," [Dr Bennet] Omalu told Goal. "If you notice the industries and corporations that are doing very well in today's global economy are the information technology corporations. What is the denominator across these successful corporations? They are businesses that speak the truth, that elevate the truth, that provide human beings a platform to think and identify the truth.
"So when I see industries that intentionally deny or reject the truth, it's a very dangerous strategy. It's a dangerous strategy that could undermine the long-term sustainability of that industry. The soccer industry should stop denying the truth. They should say: soccer is not a high impact, high contact sport, but you could suffer brain injury in sports. You need to be aware of that. You need to play safe, like removing heading from play.
"We need to place the life of the player above the revenue streams. This boils down to money. It's all about money. We should not place money above the value of life — even the life of one single player. The life of one single soccer player is worth more than the billions of dollars the soccer industry makes. Life should come first. I have never vouched for the ban of soccer. We need to make soccer compatible with 21st century knowledge. The soccer industry should embrace the future and stop living in the past. If they fail to do that, soccer will not be as succesful as it is. People will develop healthier, more brain friendly types of sports. People may not want to believe that. We need to be progressive, we need to be intelligent. We cannot continue to play soccer the way we played it in 1970. If we continue to play soccer the way we did in 1970, then society will move ahead and leave soccer behind."
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