For better or for worse, it's defined as a strict liability offence. There are rules for mitigation - it being the first minute of a match is not one of those mitigations, funnily enough, as concussion doesn't really take much notice of the match clock.
I'm also not sure that empathy is really what we're after here, I'm sure many people would have some slight degree of empathy for Byron McGuigan losing his rag with Nick Tomkins but it in no way makes it excusable.