Professional rugby. This isn't going to be a typical outcome for you or me.
I play rec league rugby and find that it's a great way to stay in shape and meet new people. More people would be healthy if we encouraged people to continue to play sports throughout life, including contact sports.
> “I’ve seen quite a number of rugby players in the last five to 10 years with CTE pathology in the brain, and none of them has been professional – they all come from the amateur era.”
I don't think we can say definitively that CTE will be an issue for amateur rugby players but I think that's only because of a lack of studies not because any study has suggested amateur players don't suffer from CTE.
Rugby turned pro in 1995. So the "amateur era" is likely referring to players pre-1995. While not strictly "pro", they were not your typical rec league players. They were doing international tournaments and playing for national teams, etc...
From what I have read, the evidence really points to duration of exposure as the key risk factor. So for someone who plays at the amateur club level, typically practicing 1-2 times a week, the risk might be fairly low. They are probably racking up a fraction of the exposure that a professional would experience in a given year.
I play rec league rugby and find that it's a great way to stay in shape and meet new people. More people would be healthy if we encouraged people to continue to play sports throughout life, including contact sports.