SERIOUS INJURIES, AN EX-CRUCIATE-ING ISSUE FOR THE GAA!

Tonights All Irl U21 Football semi-final between Cavan and Wexford provides yet another opportunity for debate about Player Welfare within sport and the GAA in particular.  The Cavan Team Doctor, Dr Ronan Carolan, doesn't pull any punches: "a very good document (click to access) on player burn-out was produced by Pat O'Neill and his committee three years ago, but when you see this fixture going ahead and the Sigerson Cup being played on three successive days, you have to wonder if there is an element of talking out of both sides of the mouth on this."

Serious injury is a major talking point these days and rightly so as it is approaching crisis proportions.  Eugene McGee was shocked last January to learn of 5 "cruciate" injuries within the Kildare senior panel alone; since then Dermot Earley has suffered a further setback and Kerry's David Moran has also fallen foul of this most feared injury. However, it's not just knee problems that are of concern as Darren Magee and Mark Vaughan can testify.  While the impact at team level is usually highlighted we should not forget the human toll involved - physical, psychological, work-related, etc.

A lot of the recent publicity has involved Kilmacud people, both players and influential others.  Indeed, the absence of so many of our key players throughout the 2010/11 championship/s campaign became a national story  in its own right.  You can catch up on some of this publicity by clicking on each image below.

On this GAA Congress week-end, here's hoping that no stone is left unturned in researching this issue further and taking whatever preventive measures are required ..... for all our sakes!  Meanwhile, we wish all of our recovering players the very best for the future - we know it hasn't been easy but you are always in our thoughts!

Davo Displays His Knee!!

Left to right: (1) Dr. Pat Duggan/Paul Griffin  (2) Paddy Carr  (3) Mark Davoren's knee!!