The Premier Division will operate the strictest concussion rules in Coravian sport from next season, after clubs voted 14–2 to hand return-to-play decisions to independent doctors and to introduce temporary concussion substitutes.
The protocol sets a 12-day minimum stand-down for any diagnosed concussion — up from six — with graduated return stages signed off by a league-appointed neurologist rather than club medical staff. Temporary substitutes allow a ten-minute pitch-side assessment without the pressure of playing on a player short.
“The oldest conflict in sports medicine is the badge on the doctor’s shirt. We have removed it,” said the league’s medical director, Dr Ines Kova, who has pushed the reform through two years of committee.
The players’ union, which surveyed members after three high-profile head injuries last season, called the vote “overdue and unambiguous”. The two dissenting clubs argued the stand-down is too blunt; Kova’s answer was equally blunt: “Brains do not read fixture lists.”
The rules take effect on the opening weekend of August. The federation confirmed the protocol will cascade to the second division within a year and to the national youth structure — where this week’s new grassroots fund will finance baseline testing — by 2028.