‘Taking the Hits’ : A Policy and Report Analysis of Traumatic Brain Damage in UK Combat Sports

Abstract

This thesis examines how traumatic brain damage (TBD) is understood and governed in UK combat sports, and whether existing policy and guidance sufficiently address TBD in line with contemporary medical, legal and ethical expectations. Grounded in an interpretive, critical policy framework, it brings together epidemiological and clinical evidence on brain injury, sociological work on combat sport cultures, relevant legislation and case law, key concussion and brain-health guidance documents, organisational policies and safeguarding materials, and qualitative feedback from stakeholders in combat sports. Using a combination of critical documentary and policy analysis, narrative literature review, scoping review and reflexive thematic analysis, the thesis treats policy texts and stakeholder accounts as situated, contested artefacts rather than neutral descriptions of risk or safety.
It maps the current guidance architecture and policy landscape, highlights gaps and inconsistencies in how TBD is framed and regulated, and explores how coaches, fighters, officials and organisers negotiate brain injury risk, duty of care, informed consent and regulatory legitimacy in practice. The analysis identifies areas where existing arrangements appear misaligned with UK legal principles and emerging medical evidence, while also showing how proposals for reform are shaped by cultural norms, organisational constraints and stakeholders’ attachments to combat sports. The thesis argues for a more precautionary and transparent approach to TBD in UK combat sports, and offers a set of evidence-informed recommendations for policy, guidance and cultural practice. Its contribution lies in bringing together sport policy and governance, sociology of sport and medical sociology, socio-legal analysis, and qualitative interpretive methods with stakeholders’ situated accounts to inform the incremental development of more robust and legitimate TBD policy in UK combat sports.
These recommendations are presented as normative, situated contributions to ongoing debates about participant protection, rather than as definitive solutions, and the thesis reflects critically on how the author’s insider position and use of video-prompted stakeholder methods shaped both the data and the interpretations offered. Within this measured framing, the thesis nonetheless suggests that significant development of UK combat sport policy is likely to be required if duty of care, informed consent and precautionary principles are to be more fully realised in practice.

Date of Award	28 Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Eric Anderson (Supervisor) & John Batten (Supervisor)