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Billy Guyton was active in rugby - a sport in which athletes regularly butted heads

Photo: Dianne Manson / Getty Images

Former rugby professional Billy Guyton was posthumously diagnosed with chronic brain injury CTE.

That's according to a report from the Auckland Neurological Foundation Brain Bank, to which Guyton's brain was donated for research purposes.

The diagnosis was confirmed in a second report by Michael Buckland, the founder and director of the Australian Sports Brain Bank.

Guyton died last May at the age of 33.

On Monday, his family received a summary of the results.

It was therefore stage 2 CTE, which lies between the mild (stage 1) and severe (stage 4) stages of the degenerative disease.

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

It is thought to be caused by concussions or repeated collisions to the head.

Researchers have also found evidence that the severity of symptoms increases in those exposed to such shocks at a young age.

Such collisions are common in rugby, as well as in American football, where CTE has been a big issue for years.

The disease can cause memory loss, depression or dementia.

However, CTE can currently only be detected after death.

Stage 2 symptoms include irrational outbursts and major depressive episodes.

Billy Guyton's father, John Guyton, told Radio New Zealand that these symptoms clearly describe his son's behavior.

Guyton, who played as a scrum-half for the New Zealand national team and in the New Zealand league, ended his career in 2018 because of this.

"The poor guy spent hours in a small, dark closet because he couldn't stand being in the light," said John Guyton.

"Some mornings he would just sit on the floor of the shower tray crying, trying to muster the energy to move."

Associations want to better protect athletes

In a statement, the New Zealand Rugby Federation (NZR) said it would continue to take measures to reduce the risk of head impacts at all levels of the sport.

"These include the introduction of smart mouth guards, lower tackle heights, contact guidelines, rule changes, mandatory training for coaches and many other initiatives," it said.

»The NZR also supports world-leading research to better understand the long-term effects of participation in rugby, including a focus on understanding the link between concussion and long-term brain health.«

Last year, a study showed that the risk of CTE for rugby players increases by 14 percent with each year of their career.

In football, the risk increases by 25 to 30 percent.

The Rugby World Federation then announced that it would promote a non-contact form of rugby in which tackling is banned.

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