Hurler helmet rule 'reducing eye injuries'
Eye injuries to hurlers have dramatically reduced since a GAA rule change on the compulsory wearing of protective helmets, it emerged today.
The severity of wounds suffered by competitors involved in the sport also decreased after younger players were forced to wear face guards in January 2005, the Health Service Executive said.
Eye specialist Stephen Beatty, whose report was central to the debate leading up to the GAA regulation shift, said all hurlers regardless of their age should now be forced to wear protective headgear.
An audit by the Waterford Regional Hospital Eye Department revealed 11 players aged under 18 were treated for severe eye injuries as a result of playing hurling in the 12 months immediately before the new rule.
Eye doctors treated just two hurlers in the same age group in the 12 months after the rule was enforced and no hurler under 18 has suffered a permanent visual defect since headgear became mandatory, the report shows.
The rule was extended to players aged 21 and younger from April this year.
Mr Beatty, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the hospital, said medics were delighted with the GAA reforms but now wanted them rolled out for senior players.
“Given the undoubted, and now proven, beneficial effect of rendering the use of protective eye wear mandatory for players aged 18 years or under – in terms of the incidence and severity of ocular injuries – we are also very pleased to see that this rule has now been extended to players aged 21 years and under,” he said.
He added: “Ultimately, it would be great to see a move towards all players wearing protective helmets and face guards whilst playing this wonderful game.”
Some 310 hurlers were treated for severe eye wounds at the accident and emergency departments of both Cork University Hospital and Waterford Regional Hospital in the eight years before the Under 18s regulation was introduced.
In six of those cases (2%) the player was blinded in the damaged eye, while 52 of the hurlers (17%) needed further treatment in hospital.
