US gets ahead of the helmet conundrum

AMERICAN sport can offer an experienced perspective on the issue of compulsory helmet wear, their mandatory use having come into effect for hurlers this season.

Some in the GAA are concerned there will be a diminishing level of player recognition as result of the new rule.

Yet in the US, where helmets are compulsory in ice hockey’s National Hockey League, gridiron’s National Football League and for batters in Major League Baseball, there have long been plenty of other ways for sports to get their stars out front and centre.