By Cian O'Connell

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Saturday October 8 will be an important day for the GAA with the National Concussion Symposium taking place at Croke Park.

Dr Pat O'Neill, who steered Dublin to All Ireland glory in 1995, highlighted the work that is taking place in the University of Pennsylvania Medical Centre. "I don't think it is a big issue in Gaelic Games, apart from when it does happen, frequency and intensity level, it is not on the same level as they are dealing with in the States," O'Neill said at a media briefing on Monday. 

"But they are leaders in terms of the research on it and what it is going on, some of it is quite alarming. But I don't think we are in that position in Gaelic games.

"My involvement in it is that I am a former player, or am supposed to be and having suffered concussions and allegedly caused them too. 

"I am a former manager, which brings up these issues of keeping players on the field when they have had an injury and getting them back to playing, the so called return to play protocol.

"Being a medic involved in it, and being involved in the GAA and to a lesser extent with the IRFU, where in rugby it has evolved into a bigger issue, so that's what it is."

How to deal with concussion is one of the topics that will be talked about at next month's event at GAA headquarters.

"It is really to look at what the issues are with it, and there are issues with it, what the logistics of it are and how to manage it, and it is a completely different situation being able to manage it here, on a day when you have all the facilities, and a junior B game in a remote area, it is the same head injury, it is the same consequences, same issues that goes with it. 

"So it is really just an educational process to get everyone thinking along the same lines, get all the stakeholders involved, managers, the coaches, strength and conditioning people, the referees who are central to this, and then all the medical and allied people, getting them to work off the same agenda."

O'Neill doesn't believe that the issue has increased. "I am not sure the hits in Gaelic football are getting any more ferocious than they used to be, there have been major rule changes that deal with that, in terms of frontal and side-on contact and third man tackles. 

"But what has changed is the speed and if we go back to the old physics formula – 1/2 m v squared – it is the v squares that is the making the difference rather than the mass and things. It goes back to a physics principle, so it is the speed at which they are happening."