Rugby players who have suffered concussions should respect complete rest for at least 7 to 12 days, depending on the case, World Rugby announced on Tuesday.

“No player will return to play before the seventh day following injury. And the return of any player must be approved by an independent consultant in the field of concussion,” the international federation said in a statement.

“Players, including those with a history of concussion or who have been excluded from the match with obvious symptoms of a concussion, will not be able to play for a minimum of 12 days, likely to miss the next competitive match,” the rugby governing body added.

Most players will be affected by this twelve day limit.

The new rules will take effect from July 1 and will prevent, as is the case now, a player who has successfully passed the protocol from returning to play for the following weekend.

World Rugby is the subject of complaints from many former players with degenerative brain problems, who criticize it for not doing enough to prevent this risk.

When was rugby invented?

The invention of this sport is attributed to the Englishman William Webb Elis, a student at the Rugby School. This traditional story relates that this young man cheated during a football game, throwing the ball with his hands during a game that began in 1823.

A more official version states that the sport was instituted in 1871, the year the Rugby Football Union was founded and the first rules of the discipline were made. The first match was played by Cambridge and Oxford.

When will rugby debut at the Olympics?

The first time the sport appeared on the official Olympic roster was in Paris 1900. France was the first champion in Olympic rugby; while Germany and England received silver medals (bronze was not awarded).

The sport disappeared from jousting after the 1924 Paris Olympics and in an attempt to include it, once again, in the official roster, Rugby 7. The discipline debuted in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and was also played at Tokyo 2020 (both times Fiji picked up the gold metal).