FAIR it is: Asia Rugby Ensuring Player Welfare : Chinese Taipei hosted their first rugby specific medical course, World Rugby FAIR (First Aid In Rugby), at Taipei Medical University on August 25th 2016.

The course, attended by 15 participants, was conducted for the Chinese Taipei Rugby Football Union by educators Ms Tsao Pei Chu (CTRFU) and Ms Stephanie Yee (PRFU). Gene Tong, Regional Training Coordinator facilitated the hosting of this course and Joy Walter, recently appointed Asia Rugby Medical Coordinator, helped the educators with the course preparation, skills teaching, and provided trainer support.

The course was scheduled just before the 2016 Asian Under 18 7s tournament, which was also the first competition of what Asia Rugby hopes shall develop into ‘a series’ for this age-grade. The timing afforded participants the valuable opportunity, after the conclusion of the course, to join the tournament medical team to practically apply skills learned during the course.

This is the first of a number of events planned for the remainder of this year’s Asia Rugby calendar by Asia Rugby and the associated medical education programmes of FAIR and FIS for medical level 1, ICIR and ICIS for medical levels 2 and 3

Asia Rugby, set up a medical board f in March 2013. The central objectives set for the board were to review policies and procedures, and to develop a program of robust pitch-side first-aid medical treatment. Medcom, as the medical board is now known, has been functioning since then with current medical representatives from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and Korea.  Medcom has focused on the development of medical standards and resources, working in particular to raise tournament medical standards, and to support and develop the various strands of first aid and pitch-side immediate care from community to international rugby levels.

The success of the Medcom initiative is evident at tournaments – international, regional and domestic; in the increasing numbers of people who have attended medical courses; and, with the interest the whole process has generated.

With the rapid expansion of Asia Rugby and the consequent increase in the number of tournaments across the region there has been a corresponding need to expand Asia Rugby medical resources, tournament support and to bring together various education and information strands. Asia Rugby appointed Joy Walter as a consultant to act as Asia Rugby Medical Coordinator to help achieve these objectives