Kelly’s head games

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This article was published 12/08/2009 (6192 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly might have a bit of Fred Flintstone in him when it comes to the subject of head injuries in football, but thankfully the organization has protocols in place to make sure that old school doesn’t rule the day.

Kelly was doing his best tough-guy act on the subject of quarterback Michael Bishop returning to Saturday’s game without missing a play after being knocked unconscious against the Calgary Stampeders.

“If you took every guy out that was playing with some kind of wobbly head, you’d have half the team off the field,” Kelly bristled. “When Stefan (LeFors) got hit in Hamilton, the first thing I asked him was ‘What are your kids’ names?’ and he was bang on, so he was all right as far as I was concerned. With Michael, I went out and said, ‘What was that?’ and he started laughing, so I knew he was OK. If you’ve ever played the game, I can remember playing games and everything was green, so that might explain me a bit. You get hit in the head and you just play with it.”

Kelly, who has extensive football experience at the NFL, CFL and collegiate levels, was asked about the team’s protocol regarding head injuries.

“We check him and we follow our finger and ‘What’s my name?’ and as long as they’re coherent and they can play and they say they’re fine, they go back in,” Kelly said. “If a guy tells me he can play, he’s going in the game. But if Al (Bombers’ athletic therapist Al Couture) says they’re not going in, they’re not going in. Al has the final say on that. I don’t know of a football player that plays in a game that at some point his head isn’t ringing. That’s just part of it. That’s up to our medical staff, it’s not up to our coaches. If they say he can’t play, he can’t play. But if they say he’s clear, then we put him back in.”

Bombers director of football operations Ross Hodgkinson, also a former trainer with the Moose and the football club, outlined the team’s protocol where head injuries are suspected.

“The responsibility is always first and foremost the health of the player, and between Al and whoever the attending doctor is at that game, I never question when they do or don’t let a player back into a game,” Hodgkinson said. “There is set protocol, set tests, set time frames that exist that are guidelines that these guys are well schooled in and that they follow to a T.”

Hodgkinson said Bishop passed those guidelines.

“All that protocol was followed. When Al went out on the field, it was clear from watching and seeing the replay that Michael had a momentary loss of consciousness. He dropped the ball and fell,” Hodgkinson said. “When Al got out there, Michael’s eyes were closed but they immediately opened and he was absolutely responsive. Michael knew everything that happened. He had no neurological symptoms whatsoever. They followed up with Michael throughout the game and there was never any concern about whether he should be sat down or allowed to return.”

Kelly, however, should have starred alongside Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn with his old-school approach.

“Anybody that’s every played the game has been knocked out and gone back in. I know guys that keep smelling salts in their wrist bands and sniff it and get their head clear and then go play. It’s a man’s game played by men. That’s what happens,” Kelly pronounced, before adding his own experience to the conversation.

“My best friend, Matt Dunigan, ended his career with a concussion. I hung up the phone one time crying because he couldn’t put together a coherent sentence,” Kelly shared. “So I am very attuned to that type of injury. It’s just part of the game. You really have no idea how violent it is until you’re playing it and involved in it like we are. Every one of these guys understands, once they buckle up those straps, that this could happen.”

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca