Daly hoping for mandatory faceguard use within five years

GAA’s head of games Pat Daly is hopeful the introduction of hurling helmets with proper faceguards will be made compulsory at senior level in the next five years.

Director general Liam Mulvihill will support a central council motion to congress next month recommending that face-guards be made compulsory for all hurlers up to minor level.

Daly is hopeful that this will be another step in the process of making proper headgear an ingrained part of the game’s culture.

“The final quantum leap of course is to bring this from minor to senior,” Daly said yesterday.

“I’ve read interviews with players who have said they wouldn’t, or couldn’t, be made to wear helmets. If this ruling is in at minor level for four or five years, guys at that level would be providing the bulk of the senior ranks at that stage and helmets would be second nature to them.

“We’re looking to bring players with us on this rather than force players who are there now to go along with any ruling.

“The thing is, you have to be patient trying to bring change through the GAA, whether that is helmets, competitive structures or Rule 42. I would hope that in five years time we could bring it in at senior level.

“That might be optimistic but there’s no point in aiming for 10 or 15 years down the line.”

The last 10 to 15 years has already witnessed enormous progress being made in terms of the amount of players wearing helmets with face-guards.

Daly estimates that as many as 80% to 85% of players up to minor and even U21 grades now wear helmets. However, there is still a sizeable element who prefer to go without, especially when the going gets tough.

“You still have the situation where guys get worked up in a game and they fling the helmet to the ground as a sort of a statement of intent,” Daly pointed out.

“I saw Ben and Jerry O’Connor doing it there in recent weeks. What we have to do is find a balance between safety, comfort and aesthetics.

“We’ll never be able to guarantee total safety but the micro-helmets most players wear now reach what is called the ‘bump cap’ standard, which means they are as safe as the helmets guys are wearing on building sites. They can withstand the same blows,” he said.