Ryan’s positive approach to safety

When Paul Galvin mentioned the discomfort of being made to wear a gum shield in his first significant interview following retirement, it could easily have been interpreted as a primary reason in his decision-making.

“Nobody would notice if you weren’t wearing them but I couldn’t talk,” he said. “I couldn’t get my wind and I couldn’t talk to fellas so you’re having to take them out and then I was running around holding mine and the ball would come then and you’d throw it away and go for the ball.”

Diarmuid O’Sullivan had said something similar about the face-guarded helmets being made compulsory. “At 30 years of age, a man should be able to make up his own mind whether or not he should have to wear a helmet,” blasted the three-time All-Ireland winner, who never wore a hurling helmet.

Neither the helmet nor the gum shield convinced the pair to step aside, but they didn’t help either. What is it they say of an old dog and new tricks? Were they of a passing generation?

Ger Ryan, chairman of the GAA’s medical, scientific and welfare committee, didn’t hear Galvin’s comments, but has been greatly enthused by the reaction of players to the mouth guard being made compulsory from January 1 this year.

“Any time you introduce something new there will be eyebrows raised but the one thing you have to say about the GAA inter-county players is they have been very co-operative especially in the interest of their own safety.

“If you look at the help we received from them in launching the gum shields, they’ve been great. This makes sense, they see that and it doesn’t disrupt them playing. Everything has gone swimmingly. We have had no reported major issues from players or referees, no controversies. I’m sure some players at club level have been told they can’t play without one but our job was made easier by the fact a lot of players had been wearing them anyhow.

“Most of the problems we encountered happened last year when we introduced it at minor level and even at that, it was nothing significant. It was just a case of people getting familiar with it. All the adult players were well prepared for it.”

Ryan fully anticipates mouth injuries will drop when the number of claims on the player injury scheme for 2014 are realised. “I don’t have any details at the moment but the hurley helmets saw a significant decrease in the number of head and facial injuries in hurling. We can expect we’ll see the same at the end of this year and it’s something we are very keen to analyse.”

Ryan doesn’t believe there is a need to extend the gum shield to hurling, where there have been a couple of advances made concerning safety around the head area. “We have very clear rules now concerning the helmet. At Special Congress last year, we banned the modification of helmets, plus we had a rule change at Congress that makes it a red card offence to pull on or take hold of a faceguard or helmet, basically any dangerous behaviour. Those two measures have added to players’ safety and we would have little concern about helmets exposing people to injuries around the mouth. We don’t see the mouth guard as something that is necessary in hurling.”

Ryan says his committee are concentrating this year on educational initiatives such as concussion — “while it’s not prevalent in the GAA it’s essential when it does occur people know what to do”.

They also continuing to roll out “GAA 15” injury prevention warm-up across the organisation — “we hope to get that into every common day usage,” says Ryan.

Further research is being done in conjunction with Dr Noel McCaffrey and DCU on groin and hip injuries. The medical, scientific and welfare committee also support Congress’s decision to raise the minimum age at inter-county minor level from 15 to 16. That rule comes into operation next year. Ryan added: “We will also be providing updated information on diet and nutrition to the ordinary club players. We would have no concerns there at inter-county level but providing that support across a number of areas makes sense.”