Hurling and Camogie Must Face the Truth on Head-High Tackles

The GAA issued a zero-tolerance directive on head-high tackles in 2019, yet enforcement at inter-county level remains practically non-existent. As modern hurlers and camogs grow bigger and faster, the continued laissez-faire attitude to challenges that endanger the head and neck makes another tragedy inevitable unless the rules are properly applied.

What Happens When the Hit Lands in Your Local Park

Far from the packed stadiums that will close out this year's championships, thousands of matches play out every week across Ireland's parks and fields. The crowds might be smaller, just a few dozen fanatics, some family, curious onlookers, bored toddlers and the odd dog, but the commitment is no less fierce.

In these places, you feel it differently. The rumble of traffic broken by leather on ash. Wet grass underfoot. The sharp hiss of Deep Heat mixing with sweat, fear and Lynx Africa. When a player takes a heavy blow to the head or neck, there is a familiar sequence. An elongated oooh from the sideline. Jackets rustling as people turn to each other. Then silence. Eye contact and body language decide what comes next.

If the blow was dirty, the crowd erupts, demanding the referee act. If it was accidental, concern takes over. These are judgements most of us feel in our bones when we are close enough to see it. Referees rarely see it differently. We know.

How Other Sports Have Responded to Head Trauma

In recent years, high-profile incidents have forced a global reckoning on head and neck trauma in sport. The ongoing crisis around chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American Football has generated acres of coverage. Tragic cases of early onset dementia have been documented in Rugby Union players, most notably from England's World Cup winning team of 2003. Among the 1966 English soccer squad, a disproportionate number of players, Jack Charlton included, also succumbed to dementia. Some authorities have linked this to heading footballs that were much heavier in that era.

In cricket, Australian batsman Phillip Hughes sustained a fatal neck injury on the field of play in 2014. The sports have had to respond. The NFL has changed its practice equipment, introduced stricter concussion protocols and depowered the kick-off. The English FA has barred heading for players under 12 and introduced a graduated approach for teenagers. Perhaps the most dramatic shift has come in rugby, where the entire complexion of tackling has been changed to limit head trauma.

The Tragedies Gaelic Games Has Already Endured

Gaelic sports have their own sorrow. In 1985, Dublin hurler Paul Mulhare, from the Good Counsel club, died after receiving an accidental blow to the head from a hurley during a league match at Croke Park. In 2022, Athenry and Galway camogie player Kate Moran died after a collision in a game. Her clubmates remembered her movingly after they won this year's All-Ireland final.

These are not abstract statistics. These are people from our own places, our own parishes, our own communities. A people that values its games must value the people who play them.

Why Is Zero-Tolerance Not Being Enforced?

Helmets have been mandatory in hurling since 2009. In 2019, a directive was issued to referees to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to head-high tackles. Yet anyone who watches inter-county hurling regularly would struggle to say this directive is being applied. A Munster hurling championship clash in early May 2024, thrilling as it was, appeared to operate under zero-enforcement rather than zero-tolerance. Several tackles in that game would have resulted in dismissal and lengthy bans in almost every other field sport. Here, they received light-touch refereeing or no sanction at all.

Given the monumental size and blistering speed of the modern inter-county hurler and camóg, it is dangerously naive to believe we will be immune from tragedy if we continue to tolerate head-high challenges. The physics are inescapable. Larger bodies moving faster carry greater force.

What Enforcing the Rules Would Actually Mean

Let us be honest about what proper enforcement would bring. Several important games would be disrupted by sendings-off. Referees, who remain human, would make mistakes that disadvantage particular teams. A player who is not that type of player would receive a ban, and the ban would stand. A player nobody wants to see missing an All-Ireland final would miss an All-Ireland final. Someone would declare it the ruination of the sport. Managers, pundits and podcasters would lambast the officials and implore us to let it flow.

But teams, coaches and players would adjust. Players would accept their duty of care to opponents because failing to do so would cost them games and their place on the team. It would settle. The association would survive. Those of us who lived through the predicted death of the games from live TV coverage, sponsored jerseys, mandatory helmets, soccer at Croke Park, the GPA, Garth Brooks concerts and white boots can attest to the GAA's resilience.

What Happens If Nothing Changes

The alternative is grim. With time, it becomes increasingly likely that another player will be killed or suffer a life-changing injury in a high-profile televised match. It will dominate the sporting conversation for a year. There will be gestures of sympathy and solidarity. Funds will be raised. Cups renamed. Functions held. Pints drank. Benefit matches played. Hashtags will trend. We will tell ourselves these gestures showcase the best of us, and to a degree, we would be right.

But after we move on, a player and their family will be left to pick up the pieces. An opponent who simply went out to play a game will forever be known as the player who caused it.

I struggle to understand how head-high tackles are better policed at club and underage level than on the most exalted stage of all. Does the relentless media spotlight make the near impossible task of the modern inter-county referee finally insurmountable? The modern player is bigger, stronger and faster, but is there some ancient impulse in us that wants to see gladiators fight to the death?

This, after all, is how the games are marketed. You are more likely to see a montage of bone-crunching hits than breathtaking scores. These players are big and strong and they contest more fiercely than in soccer or rugby, we tell ourselves. We just do not seem to worry about their safety to the same extent. Or perhaps the sickening thud of head contact hits differently when it is your neighbour's son or daughter on the receiving end in your local park.

What Is the GAA's Current Policy on Head-High Tackles?

In 2019, the GAA issued a directive to referees to apply zero-tolerance to head-high tackles in hurling. Helmets have been mandatory since 2009. However, enforcement at inter-county level remains inconsistent, with many high challenges going unpunished during championship matches.

Have Players Died From Head Injuries in Hurling and Camogie?

Yes. Dublin hurler Paul Mulhare died in 1985 after an accidental blow to the head from a hurley during a league match at Croke Park. Galway camogie player Kate Moran died in 2022 following a collision during a game. Both tragedies prompted grief and reflection but no sustained change in how dangerous challenges are officiated.

How Have Other Sports Dealt With Head Trauma?

Rugby has overhauled its tackling laws to reduce head contact. The NFL has introduced stricter concussion protocols and changed practice equipment. The English FA has banned heading for under-12s and introduced graduated heading protocols for teenagers. Gaelic games remain an outlier in terms of enforcing sanctions against head-high challenges.