GAA Injuries - Normal or what ?

[Dermot]

Hi Folks,

I've been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come to any conclusion.

Are injuries more common now in GAA than they were a few years ago ? I can't remember it ever being so bad.

1/ Is it because they are over training ?

2/ Why do you not see footballers (i.e. premiership players) getting pulled hamstrings etc.. (or maybe you do but I just miss them ) ?

3/ Is it because we have a much more physical game then Soccer ?

4/ Is it because they are bulked up more than they used to be - so muscles & tendons are getting it tougher ?

5/ Why then do we seem to be even worse for muscle & ligament problems than Rugby

99/ I could go on but seriously........What the feck is it ?

[inforthebreaks]

Well in Tyrones case dermot I think you can out it down to plain hard luck. Its not just the injuries but the players who have been gettign them. Top players in your team and thats just plan old rotten luck. And hasn't the point often been made over the past few years that Tyrone are leading the way in NOT over training the team. Maybe its the increased use of weights allied with teh lack of p[roper stretching routines that is causing the injuries to be more prevalent (but this is pure speculation on my part)

[realist]

overtraining - but let me explain in more detail as its not just as simple as that. I beleiev it to be the fact that plareys do not have sufficeint recoovery time beacuse being amuters each and every one of them must get up at the crack of dawn the day after a gruelling match or training session and do a days work. No mornings off for GAA players to head off for a massage or to see a therapist for an ache and pain!! No sir simply expected to be back ready to tarin again the night after! Play and Train as professionals but get no bob for it. Provide a show for the paying public(The masses if you like) but get no reward for it except a battered and bruised body!!!! oh and yea loads of abuse while you are entertaining the masses into the bargain!!! Lets not ask why but indeed ask ourselves are we indeed still in ROMAN times with the slaves(out GAA Players) in the colleuseum(Croke Park, Fitzgerald stadium etc etc) doing battle??

[Dermot]

We've been very unlucky with injuries as you say "inforthebreaks" - It think its all but ruled us out as serious contenders this year.

Realist - You actually said a point I meant to say...... That soccer players for example, were possibly not getting hamstring problems etc.. because they have "come down" time after a big training schedule or a hard match........... Thats another possible reason why its worse now in the GAA than before and why the GAA in general get more niggling injuries than the pro sports.

[kerrygold]

also i think dermot the high level of intensity ye have brought to yere game is starting to take its toll on the players,this is one of the reasons i felt would inhibit tyrone from retaining sam this year.i didn't feel it was possible to maintain the level of intensity reached against kerry in last year final.the players are human,not machines.

[inforthebreaks]

kerrygold said:

also i think dermot the high level of intensity ye have brought to yere game is starting to take its toll on the players,this is one of the reasons i felt would inhibit tyrone from retaining sam this year.i didn't feel it was possible to maintain the level of intensity reached against kerry in last year final.the players are human,not machines.

as a counter to that argument Kerrygold I would say this. It's the long hard slog of excessive training that burns players out. 4 or 5 nights a week of savage hard training is what does teh long term damage to players. Tyrone have been know for not doing excessive training so their intensity in matches really isn't going to make them more susceptible to injury then other teams.

Tehre is no doubt though that their appeitite would ahve been ever so slightly blunted by winning it last year, and that, allied to what I believe to be plain hard luck are the reasons Tyrone will not achieve the holy grail of successive all irelands this year

[kerrygold]

i dont believe tyrone achieved that level of performance and intensity they displayed against us in the semi final and final of '03 and '05 and v armagh in final '03 on two nights a week,you can be sure those lads trained on their own 3 or 4 other nights of the week.

[austinstacksabu]

kerrygold said:

i dont believe tyrone achieved that level of performance and intensity they displayed against us in the semi final and final of '03 and '05 and v armagh in final '03 on two nights a week,you can be sure those lads trained on their own 3 or 4 other nights of the week.

They did. Sure they openly admitted that.