Love of the Game

Love of the Game is a campaign which seeks to reduce concussion-related issues arising from contact and non-contact sports. Love of the Game takes a solutions-based approach to the problem by working with athletes, technologists, academics and the business and financial communities to develop new technologies that will prevent, diagnose and treat head injuries in sport.

We are an impassioned community of athletes, players, fans, innovators and experts, united by our love of sport and the desire to, not only protect players of all ages from the potentially devastating impact of head injuries, but also to protect the integrity of the sports we know and love. Love of the Game aims to preserve our sports by reducing the risk of early onset dementia to players, lengthening sporting careers and reducing the fear of taking part.

Like most sports, success is the product of a whole team. Solving this crisis is no different. We have brought together a unique network of over 600 supporters representing the UK’s major sports, government, academia, technology, science and business. We are forging new and productive relationships with major and grass-roots sporting clubs, research institutes, charitable organisations and the major governing sports bodies.

Love of the Game itself represents a meeting of the worlds of sport and business/campaigning through its founders: former England rugby union international Simon Shaw MBE and businesses man and dementia care pioneer Laurence Geller CBE. Simon, who played elite rugby for 23 years, now suffers from frequent memory loss, an issue he believes is caused by the severe knocks to the head he faced as a player. Meanwhile, after seeing the debilitating effects of dementia first-hand, hospitality businessman Laurence turned his attention to the world of dementia research, funding and care innovation.

When the two met and shared their mutual love of sport and their respective experiences of severe head injuries and dementia, they decided to found Love of the Game as a campaign to promote the use science to solve this most pressing issue.

Solutions-based approach

Rather than focusing on the challenges of the past, Love of the Game’s aim is to protect the players of the future and ensure that future athletes are protected from long term health risks yesterday and today’s players have had to accept. In order to achieve this, Love of the Game promotes actions across a series of pillars:

Education

• Improving recognition of the symptoms of concussion
• Positioning the long-term protection of the head and brain as part of a player’s training regime and routine

Diagnosis

• Promoting more coherent sharing of information to aid in the identification of diagnosis tools
• Developing a more sophisticated method of identifying the signs of concussion at the point of impact and for markers over the course of a player’s career
• Creating impact assessment wearables and big data analysis to grade risk and severity of concussion and the proper course of action needed

Treatment & prevention

• Promoting multi-disciplinary collaboration (bringing together investors, inventors, researchers and sports experts) to accelerate product development, experimentation and implementation.

Laurence Geller CBE appointed as a Ministerial Adviser on Concussion in Sport.

On 20th July Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston announced that Laurence Geller was appointed Ministerial Advisor on Concussion in Sport. In addition to his work with Love of the Game, Laurence is a leading expert in dementia care and a pioneer in bringing the latest research and technology to bespoke dementia care facilities.

The appointment follows virtual summits that brought together figures from across sport to discuss impact of head injuries and how to step up efforts to improve player welfare

Laurence will advise the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to help improve the understanding of head injuries in sport, taking player concerns into account. He will also help coordinate action between National Governing Bodies that ensures sport is as safe as possible for all to enjoy, from grassroots to professional level.

Driving innovation around concussion related technology - Demonstration Day & WAVi Trials

The LOTG Demonstration Day is our follow-up to the Hakathon, which was held over the weekend of the 27th/28th March. We are pleased to announce that three of the winning teams will be demonstrating their cutting-edge innovations at a Demonstration Day, planned for the end of 2021.

The goal of the event is to facilitate an understanding of what each demonstrated technology does, how the product appeals to market requirements, in addition to demonstrating the practical application of each individual product being featured. Guests will have the opportunity to learn more about the different solutions and provide their support.

Love of the Game will also be trialling the WAVi system, an all-in-one measurement platform that provides clinicians with objective information about brain performance. The trials will take place in partnership with both London area and Cornish Rugby Clubs, and include both male and female, adult and youth teams. The trials will support amateur and professional sports persons throughout their respective seasons, providing us with new insight into concussion related head injuries.