LGFA launches innovative Match Official Injury Prevention Programme

The Ladies Gaelic Football Association, in conjunction with Dublin City University, has created a new Injury Prevention Programme, devised for Match Officials, alongside a series of Match Official Injury Prevention workshops.

The Injury Prevention Programme and associated workshops have been created to help Match Officials stay injury free and, in turn, improve performance.

The programme is focused on the most common injuries sustained by LGFA Match Officials – and is complete with a pre-match warm-up which should replace any pre-match warm-up that a match official currently uses.

The overall aim of this ground-breaking programme is to reduce the risk of injury for LGFA Match Officials.

The scheduled workshops will cover the following items:

•The physical demands of refereeing Ladies Gaelic Football

•Injuries suffered by LGFA match officials

•Importance and benefits of injury prevention

•Developing a research-based injury prevention solution

•Practical introduction of LGFA Match Official Injury

•Prevention Programme and Warm-Up

This programme has been formulated on the back of research conducted by John Corrigan, a Doctoral Researcher and Lecture at DCU, who is exploring the area of Injury Prevention.

Commenting on the release of the programme, Dr. Siobhan O’Connor from DCU’s School of Health and Human Performance, said: “Referees play such a crucial role in our national game and their wellbeing matters just like our Ladies Gaelic footballers.

“We are really thrilled to launch this programme to help our referees stay strong, resilient and ready for every match.

“We based this injury prevention programme on our recent DCU research on injuries in Ladies Gaelic games referees, along with best practice injury reduction practices. We are delighted to roll out this programme, tailored specifically for Ladies Gaelic football referees.”

Researcher John Corrigan added: “Without referees, games simply wouldn't happen, so we have designed a specific injury prevention programme for Ladies Gaelic Football referees, using the best available evidence and direct input from referees at all different levels. We are delighted to launch this programme and to support the long-term health of our referees both on and off the pitch.”

On behalf of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, President Mícheál Naughton commented: “This is a remarkable initiative which should enhance the lives of our referees, both on and off the pitch. Just like for players, injuries can have a devastating impact on our match officials and if we can help to eliminate or, at the very least, reduce injury risk, that can only be a good thing. I would like to acknowledge the brilliant research that went in to form the basis of this programme and the workshops that are coming up. I look forward to seeing the positive impact of the Injury Prevention programme.”

Details of the Match Official Injury Prevention Warm-Up are available by clicking here and details of upcoming workshops, scheduled across the four provinces in February and March, are available.

Match officials can download a digital resource, which includes the injury prevention programme and recommended warm-up.

For further information, contact the LGFA’s Head of Match Official Development, Lizzie Flynn: lizzie.flynn@lgfa.ie or LGFA National Development Officer with remit for Match Official Development, David Lernihan: david.lernihan@lgfa.ie