Lipman won't be a Rebel
Experienced Rebels flank Michael Lipman has decided it's not worth rebelling against medical opinion and has retired with immediate effect from rugby.
The 32-year-old has struggled during his career suffering regular concussions and has decided not to take any more risks considering the permutations of what one more knock to the head could do.
The English loose forward estimates that he has had more than 30 concussions during the course of his career and has struggled with the lingering side-effects of a couple of blows to the head this season.
"The bottom line is that throughout my career I've had so many bangs to the head and I've had so many concussions… the last couple have been the icing on the cake," Lipman told WA Today.
"I've just had too many. Enough's enough and when you're body's talking to you like it is now, you've got to listen to it and be sensible because the hardest thing in anything really is to admit that your time is up and to come to terms with it."
While playing for Bath in 2009 Lipman was given medical advice that he should retire because of the number of concussions he had already sustained. Lipman went against that advice, but has now revealed that the side effects have become too debilitating for him to play on.
"It [headaches] is always there and you can feel the pressure in your head and when you start running and training it makes it a lot worse," Lipman explained.
"You're just very confused really, and you're hazy and you're very clouded and not many things make sense.
"You just become very, very tired. You become exhausted straight away and you feel like going to sleep, when it should really be the opposite, because when you start working and training, the endorphins release and you get a pick-up. You shouldn't get totally down the way I've been."
Lipman, who played ten Test matches for England, would like to speak about the issues he has faced with concussion to share his experiences with other players. Rugby players being forced to retire because of a series of concussions is nothing new, with Blues utility back Benson Stanley also calling time on his career for the same reason recently.
"There are loads of things going on with concussion at the moment, and it is such a huge aspect in rugby as well as AFL, but the side effects are unknown," Lipman said.
"Everyone's getting bigger, stronger and faster, [but] the brain's the brain, if you drop a computer that many times eventually it's not going to turn back on."
