Helmets turning hurling into a faceless sport

Date Published: {J}

Even Joan Collins doesn’t wear shoulder pads anymore, but the way the GAA is going hurlers could one day be faced with the prospect of trudging around the fields with them together with gum shields, shin pads and helmets. In that event, they will be more appropriately attired for a battle-ground than a sporting arena . . . and as for player recognition, well that will go out the window altogether.

Free spirit and individualism is also being sacrificed on the populist altar of hurlers’ safety and I fear that the game is being turned into a faceless sport. The mandatory use of helmets at all levels since the turn of the year is a most regrettable move and makes hurling a far less attractive game to watch and to participate in. It’s the classic marketing own goal.

Regular readers of this column already appreciate my negative views on the use of helmets. During a long playing career – I reluctantly hung up the boots at 41 years of age – I twice had the misfortune to wear a helmet and, on both occasions, it felt like my head was in a microwave! Of course, I have paid the penalty for what some would perceive as having a cavalier approach with over 100 stitches inserted in head wounds along the way. But do you know what, I am proud of every one of them. They are my badge of honour.

Yes, some people will be appalled by what they perceive as this outdated rhetoric . . . I hear them say: ‘move with the times John, safety is everything on a sportsfield.’ Now don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely no difficulty with players who enthusiastically wear helmets and are comfortable doing so, but it’s removing the freedom of choice which gets my goat. Hundreds of hurlers all over the country are now being forced to do something that is completely alien to them.

Frankly, health & safety and political correctness is gone out of control in Ireland. I remember as Offaly manager back in 2005, we had a home draw against Clare in the All-Ireland qualifiers, but with Tullamore being revamped, the local County Board offered Birr as a replacement. Health & Safety officials came down to inspect the ground and put a ridiculous crowd ceiling of less than 4,000 on the venue. The upshot was that the GAA believed the game would attract a bigger attendance and they moved the fixture to Portlaoise. Offaly lost by a point. Remember, Birr staged the 1971 All-Ireland semi-final between Tipperary and Galway in front of an estimated crowd of 15,000 . . . see what I mean!

Back to helmets. In terms of promoting a particular sport, hero recognition is critical but how are we going to sell hurling to young boys if they don’t know what many of the game’s top players even look like? Kilkenny defender Jackie Tyrell is a former All-Ireland winning captain, but how many GAA people would recognise him if he walked down the main street of Loughrea? Now, it if was Dan Shanahan or Sean Og O hAilpin, neither a helmet wearer, there would be a much far greater sense of familiarity.

There are other problems. Helmets aren’t injury bombproof either. In a recent Galway trial game, Tony Og Regan had to receive stitches as a direct result of the faceguard being pushed in after a collision with an opposition player, while Damien Joyce also required medical treatment to a head wound following an aerial exchange. We also have a new foul in hurling now which referees have simply not picked up on . . . players pulling at their opponent’s face guard.

It is also reasonable to claim that some hurlers have become more reckless in their challenges because rival players are so well protected. Would Benny Dunne, for instance, have pulled so dangerously on Tommy Walsh in last year’s All-Ireland final if the Kilkenny man hadn’t been wearing a helmet.

Furthermore, what happens on a baking hot day and a player feels his performance is being compromised by wearing a helmet or when the sun is blinding the goalkeeper’s eyes? If they cast the helmet aside, they will be sent off. Christy Ring and Mick Mackey must be turning in their graves. Players can occasionally get away with blatant thuggery on the field of play, but if others remove their helmet, they are now faced with a penal sanction. The GAA have an unusual slant on justice.

I am aware of many hurlers who are considering giving up the game because of the helmet issue. What is wrong with freedom of choice? In an era when rugby is experiencing a phenomenal boom – and more luck to it – in this country, hurling needs all the help it can get. Instead, we are diminishing its attractiveness and, in the process sending out the message that it is a dangerous game to participate in. Watching juveniles as young as six wearing big helmets that they are hardly able to support is not in keeping with a sporting pursuit.

Sure, there are a number of hurlers wearing helmets who are very recognisable, but the likes of Henry Shefflin, Eoin Kelly and Joe Canning are very high profile and deservedly so. The bottom line is that Shanahan, O hAilpin, John Mullane, Waterford’s Eoin Kelly, Mark Foley, Michael Kavanagh and Ken McGrath help to sell the sport far more than Derek Lyng, J.J. Delaney, Declan Fanning or Niall McCarthy who have been all competing at the top level for years as well.

A helmet wasn’t seen on a hurling field until the late sixties and the game survived and thrived without them. It’s actually gone so bad now that Kevin ‘Chunky’ Hayes wouldn’t be let back onto the field against Laois in the Leinster championship last summer because there was a bit of blood on his togs. He was forced to return to the dressingroom to get a clean pair before being allowed to rejoin the action. In a close game, an incident like that could cost a team victory.

If I was still hurling, there is no way I would wear a helmet. I would either seek a court injunction against the GAA for infringing on my democratic rights or present a doctor’s certificate to the match referee confirming that I had some sort of scalp problem which prevented me from using a helmet. What would the referee do then? A doctor’s cert is, by and large, sacrosanct.

We now have a situation where seasoned players, both at club and county level, are being driven tormented over the mandatory use of helmets. They have given sterling service to the GAA; it is their life; only for them to be treated with utter disregard. There is also the matter of cost – I am told a helmet costs around €90 – and this is another negative, especially at a time when unemployment is on the increase.

Maybe, I am a dinosaur on the issue, but I have no desire to see hurling turned in a version of American Football where big men lump around the field wearing what is akin to body armour. The GAA mightn’t appreciate it now, but they may be just preparing the way for hurling to become even more physical and the hits to become even harder in the years ahead. Too much protection gives players the licence to really live on the edge. I rest my case.

For more, read page 55 of this week’s Connacht Tribuine.