David Fisher: NZ Herald investigative reporter on the confidential report into Shane Christie's concussion care

Before he died, rugby star Shane Christie sent a secret NZ Rugby report to the NZ Herald, claiming its findings needed to be released to keep future rugby players safe.

The report describes a detailed safety-net of measures Christie insisted be explored in the hope NZ Rugby would improve player safety.

NZ Herald investigative reporter David Fisher received the report - and he weighed in on the secrecy around the data.

"There were many things that were raised in there that Shane was very keen to have explored."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It turns out New Zealand Rugby commission to report into
players with head injuries all the way back in twenty nineteen,
and this report included the late rugby star Shane Christy
and his concussion care. But the thing is they kept
it a secret and even he wasn't allowed to share
it before his death. He gave it to the Herald
and told the Herald only to release it if he died.
The reporter who dealt with it was Herold investigative journalist

(00:20):
David Fisher Hi. David Hi there had why was it
kept secret?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
The report that it was originally done was done on
the basis of confidentiality, which was something that Shane had
agreed to. This was a report that looked at how
he had been treated for his concussion symptoms over the
time that he had been involved with Indeed Rugby. But
there was the second part to the report that Shane believed,
once he'd seen the finished copy, didn't need to be confidential,

(00:49):
and that was the bit of the report that he
had specifically asked to be done because he wanted Indeed Rugby.
He wanted a reflection on what Indeed Rugby did and
whether it could be doing it better and he wanted
that for all the other players who were still playing,
and that was the part of the report that he

(01:09):
wanted released from the confidentiality so that it could be
made public and what ended.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I wouldn't agree to that.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
That's right, Shane, after the death of his friend Billy Geison,
fellow Tessamon Marco's player, had gone back to Indied Rugby
and said this needs to be out in public so
that you can be tracked as to whether or not
you've actually followed through on any of these recommendations. And

(01:36):
Mark Robinson, who was the chief executive Indeed Rugby, said no,
we're not having that. There's a letter that he had
said to shame for his lawyers saying you agreed to
confidentiality and that's what we're sticking with.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Do they not want it out there?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, they're talking a different story now, to be fair
to said Rugby. When the issue of confidentially confidentiality came
up around this report all the way back that it
was done around twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, it was it
was to give the medical people who had been treating

(02:14):
Shane in a medical sense some protection in terms of
their identity. So there was a not unexpected reason about
this at the outset, and it was about looking after
those doctors and their privacy rather than about any dirty
secrets that Edsid Rugby might want to keep out of

(02:36):
the public eye. But look, it's changed. It has changed
in the years since Shane gave you that report and
his death. It's more like ten months, I suppose. But
Ensi Rugby is now saying we need to find a
way to get those recommendations out and we want to

(02:57):
be able to do that now.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Am I right in thinking one of the RECOMMD indations
is a greater standdown period for concussion.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
There was one of the things that was raised. There
were many things that were raised in there that shames
very Keen to have explored.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, David listen, thank you very much to appreciate its
David Fisher and New Zealand Herald investigative journalist Heather with
Mody holding hands with potent. I'm surprised John Keat didn't
try to join in for more from Heather Duplessy Allen
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