The GAA needs to crack down on the “inconsistency” hurling referees take towards dangerous challenges, a former president of the organisation has argued. 

It has been 16 years since helmets became mandatory in a bid to tackle head injuries in the sport. 

However, on The Claire Byrne Show, Nickey Brennan, former hurler and former President of the GAA, said the sport’s risk level could be reduced further. 

“I think it is the ferocity of the challenges that's causing a fair bit of a problem,” he explained. 

“Now, our athletes are hurlers’ they're very, very fit now.

“They put in an amount of work in relation to strength and conditioning training; their upper body strength is phenomenal. 

“If you tackle a player and if it's slightly off - as has happened in a number of instances - you can hit a fella on the head and it can be very serious.” 

A hurley stick on grass. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Brennan warned that there is a degree of danger and risk in all sports, noting that a referee cannot see everything that goes on in a game. 

“Referees are stamping down on it to a degree,” he said. 

“But two things I would say, probably there's inconsistency in how the referees are playing the particular rule in this case.

“The other thing is that you'd want 10 eyes in your head to be a referee sometimes to see what's going on.” 

Mr Brennan added that players too have a responsibility to ensure that they play safely against their opponents. 

“Players, I think at this stage, have been well reminded of their duty of care to their opponents,” he said. 

“It is the responsibility of the player to make sure that they don't have a mistimed tackle, that they don't have the hurly around their opponent's head and things like that.” 

Main image: GAA Senior All-Ireland Hurling Championship Final. Picture by: INPHO/Ryan Byrne.