Alix Popham Keynote Speaker
- Former Professional Rugby Player with Early Onset Dementia
- Grand Slam winner with Wales in 2008
- Played in two World Cups (2003 & 2007)
Alix Popham's Biography
Alix Popham is a speaker who was never afraid to put his body on the line during a successful professional rugby career. Now, he is summoning that character to win the greatest challenge of his life.
He started playing the game aged just four years old and went on to a decorated career representing Newport, Leeds Tykes, Llanelli Scarlets and Brive, as well as winning 33 caps for Wales before retiring aged 30 in 2011.
Almost a decade on in 2020, he was then hit with the hardest blow of his life – receiving a diagnosis of early onset dementia, brought on by the countless shuddering collisions out on the rugby field. This devastating, life-limiting condition would not only derail a young man in his prime, but also change the futures of his wife Mel, and his three daughters Holly, 18yrs, Isobel, 15yrs and Darcey, 4yrs.
Alix Popham has since embarked on a mission as a speaker and advocate to seek a better future for others playing contact sport, launching the charity Head for Change, in 2021, to change the blueprint of contact sport and campaign for improved head injury protocols to make playing sport safer.
He is currently undergoing a pioneering neuro procedure.