Love of the Game

Love of the Game began as a campaign in 2021 and became a Charity in England and Wales in March 2023 (No. 1202462). It seeks to reduce concussion-related issues arising from contact and non-contact sports. Love of the Game takes a solutions-based approach to the problem by working with athletes, technologists, academics and the business and financial communities to develop new technologies that will prevent, diagnose and treat head injuries in sport.

We are an impassioned community of athletes, players, fans, innovators and experts, united by our love of sport and the desire to, not only protect players of all ages from the potentially devastating impact of head injuries, but also to protect the integrity of the sports we know and love. Love of the Game aims to preserve our sports by reducing the risk of early onset dementia to players, lengthening sporting careers and reducing the fear of taking part.

Our mission statement is:

To protect players of all ages from the potentially devastating impact of head injuries, while also protecting the integrity of the sports we know and love.

Like most sports, success is the product of a whole team. Solving this crisis is no different. We have brought together a unique network of over 600 supporters representing the UK’s major sports, government, academia, technology, science and business. We are forging new and productive relationships with major and grass-roots sporting clubs, research institutes, charitable organisations and major governing sports bodies.

Love of the Game (LOTG) itself represents a meeting of the worlds of sport and business/campaigning through its founders. Its key figure is former England and British and Irish Lions rugby union international Simon Shaw MBE. Simon, who played elite rugby for 23 years, now suffers from frequent memory loss, an issue he believes is caused by the severe knocks to the head he faced as a player.

Solutions-based approach
Rather than focusing on the challenges of the past, LOTG’s aim is to protect the players of the future and ensure that future athletes are protected from long term health risks that yesterday’s and today’s players have had to accept. In order to achieve this, LOTG promotes actions across a series of pillars:

Education

• Improving recognition of the symptoms of concussion
• Positioning the long-term protection of the head and brain as part of a player’s training regimen and routine

Diagnosis

• Promoting more coherent sharing of information to aid in the identification of diagnosis tools
• Developing a more sophisticated method of identifying the signs of concussion at the point of impact and for markers over the course of a player’s career
• Creating impact assessment wearables and big data analysis to grade risk and severity of concussion and the proper course of action needed

Treatment & prevention

• Promoting multi-disciplinary collaboration (bringing together investors, inventors, researchers and sports experts) to accelerate product development, experimentation and implementation.

Concussion Research

In December 2025, the UKCPN hosted its second annual UK Concussion Conference. Representatives from LOTG attended, with Chair Stuart Bagshaw and Medical Advisor Professor Mike Parker leading a session on concussion education.

LOTG is also supporting its education partner, Concussion Toolkit, in the planning stages of a Welsh national research project in collaboration with Bangor University. This project will explore concussion implementation initiatives and represents Phase 2 of a wider programme of research.

Concussion Technology

LOTG is currently in the planning stages of a Concussion Technology Demo Day, which will be held in October. The event will showcase innovative technologies focused on concussion diagnosis, detection, and treatment. It will bring together investors, influential figures from the sports industry, and leading academics to raise awareness of these solutions, foster collaboration, and highlight the latest advances in concussion care.

Concussion Education and Guidance

As of September 2025, LOTG entered into a formal partnership with Concussion Toolkit (CT), with CT serving as LOTG's official education partner. Concussion Toolkit provides concussion education, awareness, and guidance to schools and universities.

CT is now working with more than 20 leading universities and is preparing to deliver its in-person concussion education programme to over 1,600 student leaders this September. The programme has demonstrated significant impact, including a 70% reduction in athletes continuing to play while experiencing concussion symptoms, a 73% increase in participant confidence in recognising and responding to concussion, and an 80% engagement rate with follow-up communications.

LOTG will also to support Concussion Toolkit in scaling of its digital toolkit. These services are now reaching over 20,000 students. Concussion Toolkit also launched the #MoreThanAKnock campaign, encouraging student athletes to share their concussion experiences via video to raise awareness and normalise conversations around concussion. The campaign has received over 18,000 engagements to date.

LOTG has acquired the rights to white-labelled concussion education video modules from Complete Concussion Management Inc. (CCMI). These have now been adapted for UK audiences and are in the final editing stages before being made available to the public. GPs, teachers, coaches and parents are going to be targeted in the dissemination strategy.

LOTG submitted a State of Play report to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee and, in June, met with DCMS Policy Adviser Fred Keyte to present recommendations for updating the Government's concussion guidelines. The recommendations are now being shared with the wider policy team, and discussions are expected to continue as the review progresses.