Congress urged to get teeth into gum shield use

THE club official sponsoring the motion to make gum shields mandatory for underage players at Congress believes the introduction of the measure would curb the rising dental costs being incurred by claims made to the GAA.

Paddy Muldoon, President of Westport GAA club, has also been part of the Croke Park workgroup in charge of the Players Injury Scheme for the last 15 years and is behind motion 49 which is seeking that “in all hurling and football games and practice sessions, it is mandatory for all players up to and including minor grade to wear a gum shield”.

He explained: “I put in this motion because I’m on the insurance workgroup in Croke Park and I’ve seen the injuries that can be suffered.

“The key thing to remember is that if your child suffers a serious dental injury, they require treatment up until 18 years of age because children’s teeth grow and their mouth changes.

“So you’re talking about very serious money, anything up to €20,000 over a period of years. The maximum cover for dental is €4,500 and that’s been reduced from €5,000 because of the number of claims.

“Everything else has been reduced as well. People think it’s a fund with no end, but there’s an end. It’s subsidised by Central Council and every county within the GAA.

“Six per cent of all gate receipts go into that fund and it needed a one-off payment by Central Council just to keep it afloat as well. It’s not an insurance scheme, it’s a voluntary scheme and we’re trying to safeguard it.”

Muldoon, the outgoing Mayo Central Council delegate, admits that it could be defeated at Congress on financial grounds, with Cork one of the counties set to oppose the motion due to the extra costs parents and clubs will be incurring.

But Muldoon insists the GAA should follow the lead of rugby and encourage underage players to wear gum shields.

“I accept where people are coming from and maybe we’d have to look at some type of a national scheme rather than individuals going out buying gum shields. I accept that the costs that parents and clubs would have is probably the single reason it’ll be turned down. It’s a big undertaking with clubs having underage teams and this would be an extra cost for them to bear. But if you look at rugby, the first thing you do at underage level is get a gum shield for young kids when they start playing. Now in the GAA, a lot of adult players wear them but not a lot of kids.

“Why we can’t do what rugby does and make it compulsory for our underage players? We should get them used to it at that age. I maintain that an ounce of preventing is worth a ton of curing. Anything we can do to bring an end to serious injuries and reduce claims has to be positive. If we don’t bring it to the attention of people now and start a debate, then we are failing underage players.”

Ultimately Muldoon is not expecting the motion to be successful at its first attempt at this weekend’s Congress in Newcastle, Co Down but he believes putting it on the agenda will kickstart a debate on the subject.

“I think it’s like the helmets, it takes time to decide on these things. How many years was the mandatory wearing of helmets up for discussion? It was said that would be a problem, but now it’s a rule for all underage and adult players, and everyone agrees it is the right thing to do. It might take a few years of debate and a few Congresses to get this thing through. But this weekend will be a start and hopefully will begin the change.”