Demand for hurling visor soars ahead of return to action

Hurlsafe Visor

A visor that can be worn inside the faceguard of a hurling helmet has received more than 2,000 orders ahead of competitive GAA action resuming this weekend.

Developed by Derek Sheehan and Fergus Twohig of the Valley Rovers club in Cork, the purpose of the ‘hurl safe visor’ is to limit the spread of coronavirus through GAA activity.

The idea of fitting a visor inside the faceguard of a helmet came to Sheehan when the father of two avid GAA youngsters was contemplating how he could provide his children with an additional layer of protection when they returned to training.

He mentioned the concept to Twohig, with a prototype subsequently developed. And after Sheehan’s son and daughter were spotted wearing the visors at training, demand for the visor shot through the roof.

There are six variations of the visor available to purchase, suitable for the Azzurri, Cooper, Kilkenny, and Mycro helmet respectively. The visor covers the bottom half of the faceguard, is shatterproof, and comes with small holes at either end which allow for cable ties to fasten the piece of plastic to the helmet.

Both men are acutely aware that any player showing symptoms of coronavirus should be nowhere near a GAA field, but, equally, a player may be asymptomatic and so the visor acts as a shield against the spread of droplets.

“When the hurl safe visor is worn by both player and opponent, it reduces the spread of droplets if a player has or is a carrier of Covid-19. The visor is manufactured from Emblem Polyester Protection Film A 400, which is used in medical face visors. The visor is shatterproof, has anti-fog properties, and is easily inserted and secured to the inside of the hurling helmet faceguard,” Sheehan explained.

“In terms of protection for the kids, I’d rather this than nothing, that’s for sure. Obviously, coughing and sneezing massively contributes to the virus being transmitted. If a player is a carrier and he coughs during a game or training, he is reducing the spread of droplets from that cough if he has the visor inside his faceguard. I should add that we are not interfering with the faceguard, not at all.

“At the beginning, all I was worried about was my own two kids in terms of them either getting it or spreading it. I was only thinking about protecting them. But it has spiraled since then.”

With the help of Damien O’Brien of SignSpec and Michael English of Adva Sign in Fermoy, 25,000 visors have been manufactured.

“There has been a huge amount of work put in to arrive at the finished product,” Sheehan continued.

“With an early batch, we felt the sides of the visor were too sharp and so we modified the visor, smoothed it around the edges, and went again. After eight or nine attempts, we got it right.”

Local interest has been significant, with orders also coming in from Reading in the UK and as far afield as Boston. In total, over 2,000 orders have been received.

“I did make contact with the GAA, but there has been no feedback from them, nothing. All we are trying to do here is help reduce the spread of the virus."

The hurl safe visor costs €5, but can be acquired for €3.50 when clubs buy in bulk.