Blood testing to be introduced for GAA players December 16, 2015





Ger Ryan, Chairman MSW Committee and Kevin Moran, Consultant Surgeon, Donegal team Doctor, MSW Committee member.

©INPHO/Morgan Treacy. Ger Ryan, Chairman MSW Committee and Kevin Moran, Consultant Surgeon, Donegal team Doctor, MSW Committee member.©INPHO/Morgan Treacy.

The GAA has confirmed that blood as well as urine testing for GAA players will be introduced for the first time as part of the 2016 Anti-Doping programme rolled out by Sport Ireland.

At a media briefing in Croke Park today, the GAA's Medical Scientific and Welfare Committee (MSW) released information on a number of issues of relevance to the Association:

GAA INJURY DATABASE

The Committee presented the main findings from the latest report of the GAA's Injury Database. The database, now in its ninth year monitors injury data collected from the senior Inter-County playing population. Latest data available suggests that players are considerably more likely to sustain an injury when playing games as opposed to when training at intercounty level.

Additional findings include that:

Lower limb injuries account for nearly 80% of all injuries recorded in football and 70% of all injuries recorded in Hurling.

14% of all football injuries are "overuse" injuries; the corresponding figure for hurling is only 6.6%.

Recurrent cases accounted for 24% of all injuries in football, 19% in hurling.

Most injuries in Gaelic Games are non-contact injuries. Only 28% of injuries were reported as having occurred following contact with another player in football. This figure was 36% for hurling.

Chairman of the MSW Committee, Ger Ryan, said that the findings were of considerable interest and thanked Mr John Murphy and Dr Catherine Blake (Directors) and their team at UCD for preparing the initial findings.

He said the high instance of lower limb injuries further emphasised the importance to the GAA of the effective roll out of its GAA 15 injury prevention warm up programme which is currently ongoing. He said the high rate of overuse injuries in football, compared to hurling, was significant in the debate on overtraining and player burnout.

The initial findings also showed that while the risk of injury increased sequentially with age in hurling, players exiting U21 grade (those in the 21 - 24 year age bracket) were at the highest risk of sustaining an injury in Gaelic football.

CONCUSSION

Arising from a motion to the 2015 GAA Annual Congress, the MSW committee were requested to consider the implications of introducing a temporary substitute in Gaelic Games for players suspected of having concussion.

Dr Kevin Moran said that having given the matter detailed consideration, the MSW committee would not be recommending the introduction of a "concussion sub" in Gaelic Games at this point.

He said it was the view of the Committee that the current Concussion guidelines were the best approach for the Association and that the focus of the Association should be on the continued education of its players and members in this regard.

Dr Moran stated "Our management guidelines are clear in the view that if there is any doubt at all as to whether a concussion has been sustained, a player should be removed from play; we are not convinced that allowing time for side-line assessment will necessarily help in this regard as there is no test currently available that ensures accuracy for pitch side concussion assessment."

He said "proposals to introduce a concussion sub presume that concussion can be diagnosed within a short time frame but that this was not in keeping with best practice and that symptoms of concussion can take several hours to present."

He concluded by saying that while concussion in Gaelic games is not at levels to cause any huge concern if improperly managed, concussion could represent a serious risk to players' future health.

ANTI-DOPING

It was confirmed that blood as well as urine testing for GAA players will be introduced for the first time as part of the 2016 Anti-Doping programme rolled out by Sport Ireland.

Chairman of the MSW, Ger Ryan, said that blood-testing has been a fact of life for many athletes in Ireland's largest sports for a number of years, and it was inevitable that it would eventually be introduced to Gaelic games.

"The GAA has worked closely with Sport Ireland on this and the programme that will be rolled out - while meeting with Sport Ireland's requirements in this regard - has been designed taking careful consideration of the unique circumstances of our amateur players, their support personnel and our team and training structures."

He added that he fully appreciated the additional inconvenience this would cause for players, but emphasised that the GAA could not afford to be complacent in terms of the integrity of its games and that the testing programme was designed to ensure a level playing field for all GAA players.

He said "the GAA had formulated a new four year Anti-Doping Education Strategy for all levels of the Association to complement its existing initiatives, and that the main focus of this in 2016 would be on senior intercounty panels and support personnel."

In 2015, 95 GAA players were tested as part of the anti-doping programme.

DEFIBRILLATOR EXCHANGE PROGRAMME

Details of a defibrillator exchange programme for GAA clubs were also announced.

Defibrillators which would have been purchased at the beginning of the GAA Defibrillator Scheme may now be approaching the expiry of their warranty and a new programme, being rolled out in conjunction with Heart Safety Solutions, offers a further €100 reduction off the discounted GAA Club price when clubs "trade-in" an old defibrillator.

It was emphasised that appropriate storage and maintenance checks are of the utmost importance during the life-span of these potentially life-saving devices and that all clubs are advised to have weekly inspections of their AEDs to ensure this life-saving equipment is always accessible and working if required.

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