Kingussie Propose Mandatory Wearing Of Shinty Helmets Roll Out | |
13 March 2014 Kingussie Camanachd Club has made a proposal to the Camanachd Association that a mandatory roll out of the wearing of shinty helmets and face guards should take place on a year by year basis from the start of the 2015 shinty season. The Badenoch club would also like the Camanachd Association to strongly recommend that older players wear helmets and faceguards as well. The wearing of helmets is currently mandatory for shinty matches up to and including U17 level and this proposal would see the current ruling extend on a year by year basis. In a letter to Camanachd Association President Archie Robertson, the Kingussie Camanachd Club committee set out their proposal as follows: “Kingussie Camanachd Club would like to propose an amendment to the current rules regarding the wearing of helmets and faceguards for players when playing shinty. As you are aware the present rule is that helmets and faceguards are mandatory for all players eligible to play U17 shinty, and they have to wear these when competing in all grades of shinty. Once they leave U17 shinty and wearing a helmet and faceguard is not compulsory some of these players are choosing not to wear a faceguard and many are not wearing a helmet at all. Kingussie Camanachd Club feel that as these players have worn head and face protection all their Shinty careers up to the age of 18 there is no reason that they should not carry on wearing them throughout their career. Kingussie Camanachd Club’s proposal is that as of season 2015 all players who have been eligible to play U17 shinty in 2014 would have to carry on wearing helmets and faceguards. This would roll out year on year. We suggest that the rule should be; All players born on or after 1 January 1997 must wear a helmet and faceguard in all grades of shinty. All players born after this date could have a letter or number added to their player registration number to make it easy for referees to identify them from team lines. We would also like to see The Camanachd Association strongly recommend that older players wear helmets and faceguards as well. We realise it is difficult for older players who have not been used to head and face protection to suddenly start wearing it, and that is why we are suggesting the rule is enforced as stated above. We do however feel that The Camanachd Association should be more pro-active in ensuring the safety, health and wellbeing of the players in our sport. All shinty players are amateur and a player sustaining a serious facial injury could be off work for weeks which can cause serious financial implications. By introducing the helmet and faceguard rule in the ‘roll out’ method suggested above, the Camanachd Association would minimise the cost to clubs, in fact it should be practically nothing as all the players concerned will have helmets/faceguards anyway. It also won’t be a ‘culture shock’ to the players concerned as they will always have played with helmets / faceguards and will simply continue to wear them. Within a few years most of the players in the sport would be wearing head and face protection and eventually all players would be. Each year there are eye, facial, head and teeth injuries in Shinty that are avoidable by simply wearing head and face protection. Kingussie Camanachd Club feel that the time has come for shinty to modernise and follow the lead of hurling, ice hockey, skiing and cycling whose governing bodies have all insisted upon head protection in recent years.” Whilst the proposal will find opposition in some quarters, it is an issue sure to spark debate on what is an important topic. The GAA addressed the matter when they introduced the mandatory wearing of helmets for all hurling matches in 2010. Kingussie Camanachd Club hopes their proposal will be discussed at the next Camanachd Association Board meeting at the end of this month. |