Weir: I have no fears for my sons playing game

Legendary Scotland lock says rugby did not cause his MND Cure can be found so long as research is not ‘underfunded’

Doddie Weir, Scotland’s legendary former lock forward, has stressed that he has no worries about his children playing rugby union and does not believe that the sport caused his motor neurone disease.

Weir, who is 52 and was diagnosed with the disease in 2017, was reacting to research by the University of Glasgow which found that former male international rugby players in Scotland were 15 times more likely to suffer MND than the wider population.

Studies of former footballers and American football players have previously also found a significantly increased risk.

MND is a relatively rare disease, with various genetic, lifestyle and environmental risk factors, and Weir has no regrets about a career that included 61 Scotland caps and a British and Irish Lions tour.

“I personally wouldn’t change anything about the game and I enjoyed the game,” he said. “I also feel that playing rugby was not the cause for my disease. I’m delighted for my sons to play the game and have no concerns for them getting MND.

“I was very surprised with their findings. It would be very interesting in how they came to that conclusion. I find it hard to believe. It would be good to see the bio markers and evidence before I comment more.”

Weir did echo the call for urgent new research into the causes of the disease, as well as into potential treatments and cures. His charity, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, is funding a study investigating the potential link between strenuous activity and the development of MND. As well as head impacts, studies have suggested a possible link to agricultural chemicals.

Weir remains convinced that a cure can be found. “MND is not incurable, it is only underfunded,” he said. “The more money we can generate, the more answers to unknown questions we can gather.”

Although his movement and speech is significantly affected, Weir said that he was “very well” and recovering from a “fabulous” weekend away. “Twelve of us went to the Isle of Coll to see [former flanker] Rob Wainwright for lunch, and visit a distillery when we were there. I’m still managing to annoy the wife and kids. I’m still enjoying the odd Guinness and red wine.”

Jessica Lee, who is the director of research at My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, described the Glasgow research as “concerning”, but said that the findings should be viewed with caution and did not prove a causal link.

“The sample size included in the study is relatively small, especially when studying an uncommon condition like MND,” she said. “These findings therefore warrant further investigation in larger scale studies.”

Prof David Sharp, a neurologist at Imperial College London’s UK Dementia Research Institute, said that the Glasgow research “aligns with previous work showing increased risk in other sports” and called for initiatives to monitor the brain health of active and former sportspeople who have been exposed to repetitive head injuries.

As well as the MND findings, the former Scottish international rugby players were found to be twice as likely to develop dementia and three times more likely to suffer Parkinson’s disease.

Prof Sharp’s colleague, Dr Neil Graham, said that dementia research required significantly more investment, including from sports governing bodies. The Glasgow study was a continuation of its work on former footballers and was part-funded by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association.

‘I was very surprised with their findings. It would be good to see the bio markers and evidence’