Protect the Player. Protect the Sport
Overview
Love of the Game (LOTG) is a campaign to reduce concussion-related issues across sport. We take a solutions-led approach, driving progress through education, technology, and research- ensuring every player can enjoy the game they love, safely.
Our Mission
We are an impassioned group of athletes, players, fans, medics and innovators, united by our love of sport and the desire to protect players of all ages from the potentially devastating impact of concussion and other head injuries, in so doing, we also protect the sports we love.
A Message From Our President
“As a former sportsperson competing at the highest level on the international stage, I’ve seen the impact of head injuries on those around me – and also felt it myself. Sadly, too often it’s only after your career that you reflect on the risks taken and the damage you may have done to yourself. This is too late, particularly when it comes to our most important organ: our brains.The long-term impact of head-related traumas due to the effects of concussions and other head injuries happens across many sports: rugby, football, cricket, horse racing, boxing, hockey and more. This is why Love of the Game doesn’t work in silos, but brings people together from across the sporting landscape – and further afield – to develop solutions, so that we can protect our players and protect our games.”
Simon Shaw MBE, Campaign President
Team Statement
Through Love of the Game’s (LOTG’s) unique network of supporters – representing the UK’s major sports, government, academia, medicine, technology, science, and business – we drive awareness and funding for the research and development of rapid, actionable solutions that prevent, diagnose, and treat concussion and other head injuries.
Guided by our collective passion, goodwill, and expertise, our mission is to reduce and manage concussion-related injuries, safeguard the integrity of the sports we know and love, and ensure the longevity of players’ games and careers.
Love of the Game represents a meeting of minds across sport, science, medicine, business, technology, and government. With an open and collaborative approach to information sharing, and an unwavering focus on practical, evidence-based outcomes, we are driving change through three key pillars of engagement:
Education
Empowering players, coaches, and universities through concussion awareness and recovery guidance, delivered in partnership with the Concussion Toolkit initiative.
Technology
Supporting innovation and start-ups that advance concussion prevention, diagnosis, and management, and fostering new ideas through hackathons and collaborative challenges.
Research
Raising funds to advance concussion research and support new studies, partnerships, and trials that deepen understanding and improve player welfare across all levels of sport.
Together, these pillars strengthen our shared goal: to protect every player, preserve the joy of sport, and build a safer future for generations to come.
Public Benefit
LOTG is applying for registered charity status. Please see here our Public Benefit Statement
Through our work we will benefit the whole of the population of England and Wales. While our focus is on those who regularly play sports – according to UK Govt figures, 66.4% of adults and 44.6% of children – the work we do aims to benefit all who have or might suffer from concussion or other head injuries be that through sport or other causes such as falls or accidents, by the reduction or cure of short and long term brain damage, and thus the prevention of physical and mental health problems.
We will strive to provide access to new technology, at the point of need, for professionals and the public to improve diagnosis and treatment of concussion and other head injuries through a national network of concussion centres.
We will work towards reducing people’s fears and anxiety about concussion related brain damage through improved education and public understanding of means to reduce head injury risks. We will also help people to know how to access immediate support in the event of a head injury which is additional to, and not available at the point of need, from existing health providers.
Get Involved.
We need your help to Protect the Player. Protect the Sport.
Thank you for the generous support of our sponsors.
