June 9, 1990 was the day Ian Stewart’s life changed.
Once a passionate Aussie rules umpire, Stewart became the victim of a cowardly attack that day, leaving him with scars – physical and mental – that persist 34 years later.
Ambushed in the showers after a second division game following an altercation with a player, Stewart can barely recall what happened next.
But the aftermath he will never forget: a broken nose, ongoing concussion symptoms, extensive jaw surgery, bouts of depression and PTSD, and a lifetime spent coming to terms with his new reality.
Ian Stewart says his horses were his “saviour” as he battled the long-term impacts of his concussion.Credit: Eddie Jim
“He lunged forward, headbutted me in the head, and then went bang with a fist and that’s all I remember,” Stewart told this masthead.
“I always say if I didn’t have an 18-pound Stewart head it may have killed someone else. It’s been going for 34 years … I’m all right, but have never been the same since.”
The pain led to other problems, including an addiction to heavy painkillers.
“It changed my life, it ruined my marriage, it ruined everything.”
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As for his attacker, Stewart recalls he was handed a 15-year ban from the game, and charged with criminal assault.
Stewart, now 70, has attended only one game since his assault – the week after it happened, when he had to oversee a grand final – and only returned to the ground in Lancefield, Victoria this year.
He ventures to Melbourne three times a week for treatment, and took his daughter with him when he went back to the place his life changed.
“I took Ashley with me and sort of got over the fear, I’ve tried to get over the fear, and I started to get really anxious and that’s taken me 34 years,” Stewart said.
“She understands now what her father’s gone through. I don’t know if I did the right thing, even talking about it now I’m starting to get upset because it should never have happened.
“On one hand, I wish I hadn’t gone back there, but I’m also glad because I painted the picture. That’s the help I’ve had from a multidiscipline team so that I can overcome the anxiety.”
Stewart has fought a long battle, not just for his health but for the support he felt he deserved.
Marcus Adams was forced into retirement early due to prolonged impacts of a concussion suffered in 2022.Credit: Russell Freeman, Getty Images
And he is adamant sporting bodies and governments must come together and take greater responsibility for the wellbeing of their members post-career and throughout the grassroots.
It was reported only this year the AFL had proposed a hardship fund to support players retiring with concussion, among them former Brisbane Lion Marcus Adams, while last year’s Senate inquiry determined the government should enforce return-to-play guidelines.
Stewart had to fight to ensure he received sufficient compensation – suing the player who attacked him, his club, the league and umpires association – to pay for the neurological experts, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and pain management specialists.
“Your life is consumed by defending yourself for something that impacted me 34 years ago. It’s only in recent years I’ve been able to talk about it because I get too upset,” Stewart said.
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“The controlling bodies make a lot of money through the broadcasting rights; surely they can take a handful of money and put it aside for funding for this.
“Collectively, you’d think they’d come together to be able to fund this. What does it take – something terrible to happen to implement change? We have to listen to the people who have been involved or impacted.
“I was awarded $172,000, and people thought ‘gee look at that, you got a lot of money out of that’ and my answer has been ‘what price do you put on your life?’
“I’m just astounded the funding hasn’t been injected into this because it’s not going away.”
While awareness of concussions and brain trauma has increased over the past decade, the University of Queensland’s Dr Stephen Townsend said that does not mean it is a recent issue.
Townsend has looked into the history of brain injuries, drawing on cases of Australian Indigenous athletes, domestic-violence victims, professional wrestlers, and the mothers of brain-damage sufferers.
He hopes an understanding of past failings will inspire policy changes to better support, educate and protect athletes moving forward.
Townsend pointed to research in the Medical Journal of Australia dating back to 1960, and century-old concerns in community and elite sport that signalled the need for change in concussion management and awareness.
“It seems like this is something new, and the sporting bodies are certainly keen for us as members of the public to see this as a new crisis that’s popped up and sporting bodies are doing all they can under difficult circumstances,” Townsend said.
“But that’s not true, we’ve seen concussions crises in Australia in the 1930s, the United States at the turn of the century. It requires active policymakers, athletes, caregivers and coaches to drive change.
“We’ve got lots of adults and kids who are playing recreational sport that professional athletes play, and they play without the same monitoring, the visibility, without the compensation and without the same aftercare the professional athletes receive.
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“This is not a private sporting issue, it’s a public health issue and a society-wide issue.”
Stewart said that for every instance of brain trauma involving a well-known person – Danny Frawley and Paul Green among the most agonising cases – there were many more that went unreported at a grassroots level.
“Suicide’s entered my thoughts over the many years, but I’m fortunate I’ve got that team looking after me,” he said.
“There’s plenty of people taking their lives, and you’ll never know if it’s through our living standards, or because they’ve played sport and had head knocks.”
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