Dec 15, 2020
Rugby’s moment of reckoning is here.
6 years after the NFL agreed a €765 million settlement for a concussion-related lawsuit, a “test group” of 8 former rugby players is suing rugby’s governing bodies for the effects of repeated concussion. Irish players may be involved in the next wave of cases involving up to 70 players.
Their claim is that the governing bodies negligently failed to protect them from the known risks of concussion. They allege these risks became more prevalent in the professional era of the game (post 1995).
All 8 players are under 45, played in the professional era, and have received the same diagnosis – dementia with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head.
What must they prove to succeed?
A claim in negligence against a sports body, broadly speaking, requires proof of 3 elements:
- The governing body owed a duty of care to the player
- The governing body failed to meet the requisite standard of care
- This failure caused injury, loss or damage to the player
1.Duty of Care
This is a given – Governing bodies regulate the conduct of the game and owe a duty of care to players to set standards and safety protocols.
2.Standard of Care
The requisite standard of care differs from sport to sport.
In rugby, certain injuries are inherent risks of playing the game. Breaking an arm or a leg in a lawful tackle, for example.
Brain injuries and dementia fall outside that. Governing bodies must take measures to meet a certain standard of care that protects players from these risks.
In the NFL, it was alleged that the governing body knew about brain injuries and did nothing. A complete failure of standards and protocols on concussion. Until as recently as 2010, the NFL continued to dispute the evidence linking repeated head impacts in American football, to long term brain damage.
Arguably, rugby authorities have been more proactive in recognising concussion risks and protocols. They have implemented measures.
To meet the standard of care required, the law does not demand perfection but it does demand that every reasonable effort is made by the governing body to protect players from the risks.
This could include :
- Communicating the risks
- Training and education
- Adequate concussion protocols
- Rigorously enforcing the protocols
- Baseline testing
- Providing medical advisers
- Monitoring and training coaches and referees on the issue
- The Resulting Loss
If it is established that the governing body failed to meet their standard of care, the player must still establish that this failure caused the injury or loss – i.e. dementia.
Establishing this link can be difficult. It will require complex medical and factual evidence.
Previous concussion-related actions against the NFL, NCAA and NHL all settled before trial. These legal proceedings in rugby may follow suit. However, at what cost ? Rugby’s governing bodies are already cash strapped following COVID.
We may therefore see a different approach play out.
Dec 15, 2020
For more information contact Morgan Crowe at mcrowe@leman.ie
Dec 14, 2020
Baton twirling is not a sport that you will typically find outdoors. It relies on good and consistent lighting, a hard wood floor and enough heat to stop fingers from feeling numb when twirling a baton! But where there is a will, there is a way and Northern Star Twirlers, a club based in North Dublin, have been adapting to training outdoors over the past few months.
Since September a floodlit tennis court at Dean Swift Sports Club in Coolock has been the training location for Northern Star’s athletes who range in age from 2 to 18. The club continued its training outdoors with 6 sessions a week. Speaking about the past few months for their club, the Northern Star coaches said; “Even though it’s not ideal to be outdoors, particularly in the Winter, our athletes have been glad to be able to keep going and we are very grateful to have had the use of a floodlit facility, particularly as the darker evenings set in. The members of our club, along with their parents, have been incredible – no matter what the challenge, they have met it head on. Our young people have shown us so much to be proud of. We would like to thank Dublin City Council for helping us find somewhere to train, our national governing body BTSAI for all the support they provide to us, and Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport for continuing to advocate for sports like ours. This has been a tough year for everyone but we’re looking forward to 2021 with hope and excitement for a complete return to the sport we love”.
Dec 14, 2020
During this exceptional year we’ve been having there have been very limited opportunities to host events, with this in mind we were extremely lucky to be able to hold the #BeActive Paddle Day, a nationwide participation focussed event to get people out on the water for the first time. This event was made possible with a successful funding application to Sport Ireland and the EU Commission for support in running an event as part of the 2020 European Week of Sport (23rd-30th September). The whole week, and our event, was aimed at getting more people active and out exercising, sometimes for the first time or to rekindle their exercise habits.
With a massive amount of work put in behind the scenes, led by Events Manager Ciaran Maguire, the finer details of the event were ironed out and the wheels were put in motion. To get as many new people trying out paddlesports for their first time we partnered with affiliated clubs, Outdoor Education Training Centres and Local Sports Partnerships all over the country to make the event accessible to as many people as possible. These partner locations held a morning and an afternoon session, run by registered instructors for the attendee’s safety and to ensure the best experience for all involved. All of the equipment provided for the attendees was also fully sanitized between the sessions to ensure hygiene standards were adhered to for the safety of the participants. These measure in place due to no small amount of work from Emer Carton, putting in floods of work to ensure that bookings and the locations themselves were coordinated to the highest standard, both running smoothly and safely.
In the lead in to the event itself we also held a brilliant event launch to announce the Paddle Day and to mark the bookings as open. The launch, held on the Leinster aqueduct over the River Barrow in Monasterevin, invited local club members to come and take part and ensure the focus on clubs and participation for the event. Thanks to Sam Curtis, Canoeing Irelands Communications head, we had fantastic branding graphics made for the day, followed up with great visibility of the event and branding for the entire Week of Sport We were very pleased as well to have representatives from Sport Ireland at the event to support the launch.
In the lead up to the Paddle Day itself we were delighted to partner with Mazda Ireland, who provided us with a Canoeing Ireland branded CX-30 to help in our transport for the Paddle Day organisation, and the work across the Week of Sport itself.
On the 26th September the #BeActive Paddle Day kicked off on a cold but bright morning, a brief gap in the cold and wet weather preceding the weekend. In total 45 event locations were holding a variety of morning and evening beginner sessions across 21 counties. On the day itself thanks again to Mazda Ireland the CEO, Moira Aston, and Events Manager, Ciaran Maguire, were able to get out to many event locations to both see the success of the event and touch base with our fantastic clubs who were making the event possible. Across the sessions being held throughout the day the Canoeing Ireland team were able to visit event locations at Trim Canoe Club, Ribbontail Paddlers Canoe Club, Inny Kayak Club, Laois Kayak and Canoe Club, and the Athy Sports Hub. These locations all ran brilliant sessions, with a great attendance, loads of fun for all involved, and most importantly were run safely for all participants and instructors. These events that the team attended were reflective of each of the 45 event locations which all showed this same level of excellence in their respective session, as we saw during the barrage of brilliant photos of people out enjoying being on the water coming in from clubs and OETCs throughout the day. In total across these locations 1045 people were out on the water, the majority of which were out getting active on the water for their very first time in a boat. Among the locations and events were some fantastic set ups and causes, such as the West Cork Kayakers running a session in support of breast cancer, and the Limerick Kayaking Academy putting on a full Junior fun race in conjunction with the #BeActive Paddle Day, with a full day of Boatercross racing on the Castleconnell S Bend. It didn’t stop here with clubs and various partners running events affiliated with the Canoeing Ireland Paddle Day through the entire European Week of Sport. With all these people trying out paddlesports for their first time doing so through clubs and their own community we hope that they will continue to engage with and pick up the love of our sport through their fantastic local club.
Talking about the success of the event Ciaran Maguire said, “Blown away the uptake on this event. When we contacted the clubs who where interested, all they said was yes! The YES turned into a mass participation event it would not have been possible with out the networks of clubs involved rolling up their sleeves and running great session around the country. From Leenan and Letterfrack to Villlerstown and Lough Hyne, Baltinglass to Donegal we had am impressive spread. The big thanks to all who ran sessions and to those first timers who came along to enjoy the sport.”
We would like to again extend a massive thank you to the affiliated clubs, OETC’s and LSP’s who got involved and helped in running sessions, and especially to Sport Ireland and the European Commission whose support made this event possible.
Dec 14, 2020
35 Fingal schools and over 3,500 5th & 6th class students will complete 26.2 miles over 8 weeks, training 4 times a week in school.
This is the 6th year of this programme, which sees over 10,000 students from across Dublin complete the programme
Last Wednesday Aisling Moloney, RTE news2day and David Gillick MarathonKids Ambassador, visited Powerstown Educate Together National School in Tyrrelstown to see how the 5th and 6th class students were getting on with their marathon journey.
The MarathonKids Ireland Programme is designed to encourage children to embrace healthy, active lifestyles. Niall Mc Guirk (Fingal County Council) and Neil Kennedy (MarathonKids Ireland) developed the programme, which took place for the first time in 2015 and saw 800 students take part.
The programme, the only one of its kind in the country, is in over 150 Dublin primary schools and sees students accumulate a distance of 26.2 miles over an 8 week period. The programme sees each student taking part receive a workbook to use in class. The idea of the workbook is to inform students about the marathon, learn about the benefits of sport and record their training on a daily basis. Teachers have been very impressed with the MarathonKids Ireland Workbook and its contribution to the classroom. Ailish McKenna, a teacher in Powerstown ETNS, ‘This is our third year running the Marathon Kids Programme in Powerstown. We feel it’s great motivation for the children to stay active, especially this year during the pandemic. The booklet reinforces the physical and mental benefits of being active with information on the role of nutrition and hydration. It is a fantastic programme that the children look forward to every year.’
END
For further information on the MarathonKids Ireland Programme contact:
Noel McManus noel.mcmanus@fcrs.ie 0879830443
Dec 14, 2020
The successful and enjoyable 21 Day walk/push challenge saw over 100 registrations take part. IWA Sport partnered with Get Ireland Walking with the aim to turn members leisurely walks or pushes into a habit in three weeks. Kicking off the month of November with a brilliant challenge, over 100 registered pushers and walkers received activity packs to help with this challenge. We had participants from all over Ireland including Kinsale, Dundalk, Listowel and Navan, to name a few. We also engaged with a number of new people who we haven’t previously and it showed the appetite out there for different forms of physical activity
Participants and members did a fantastic job at keeping the 21-day walk/ push challenge Facebook group active. Each day members posted selfies as well as snapshots of times and distances. We were also treated to lovely images of different scenery and even some fluffy friends accompanied people on their walk/ push. During a time where were encouraged to stay apart this virtual challenge really brought people together and a sense of community to all involved. Stay tuned on the IWA-Sport Facebook page for more challenges like this in 2021.
