National Forum

ACL Injuries

(Oldest Posts First)

Lads, what is going on? I'm not sure about the rest of the counties (you lads can enlighten me I'm sure), but in Meath alone we've had 6(!!!) ACL injuries in the last two seasons, and 4 of them have been in the last 6 months. Each of them have been county players too. As I said before I can't speak for other counties but surely this is getting severely out of hand and the GAA needs to do something to address the intense workload placed on amateur players? The new rules have been a success from an entertainment standpoint but with how much running and intense training is involved nowadays it is obviously taking a severe toll on players.

RoyalStalwart24 (Meath) - Posts: 98 - 17/08/2026 11:45:08    2690165

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Replying To RoyalStalwart24:  "Lads, what is going on? I'm not sure about the rest of the counties (you lads can enlighten me I'm sure), but in Meath alone we've had 6(!!!) ACL injuries in the last two seasons, and 4 of them have been in the last 6 months. Each of them have been county players too. As I said before I can't speak for other counties but surely this is getting severely out of hand and the GAA needs to do something to address the intense workload placed on amateur players? The new rules have been a success from an entertainment standpoint but with how much running and intense training is involved nowadays it is obviously taking a severe toll on players."
Its scandalous whats going on and nobody is passing any remarks. Young players all suffering from them too and its all down to S&C. There is to much being done at a young age far to many weights lifted. Go into any intercounty minor or development squad gym session most of them are lifting huge weight. This has to be taking a toll as years ago there was no S&C and there wasn't a word of ACL injury's apart from a few.

From having sons part of development and minor squads there is far to much of a focus put on size and strength rather than skill natural ability and speed. Wouldnt do any harm for young boys to go work on their weak side rather than in lifting weights because at the end of the day you cant kick a dumbell over the bar.

Farneyarmy2013 (Monaghan) - Posts: 38 - 17/08/2026 12:46:35    2690175

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Replying To RoyalStalwart24:  "Lads, what is going on? I'm not sure about the rest of the counties (you lads can enlighten me I'm sure), but in Meath alone we've had 6(!!!) ACL injuries in the last two seasons, and 4 of them have been in the last 6 months. Each of them have been county players too. As I said before I can't speak for other counties but surely this is getting severely out of hand and the GAA needs to do something to address the intense workload placed on amateur players? The new rules have been a success from an entertainment standpoint but with how much running and intense training is involved nowadays it is obviously taking a severe toll on players."
There were plenty of ACL injuries before the new rules.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8711 - 17/08/2026 13:12:44    2690179

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The GAA spend millions on coaching but have they addressed fitness? How many coaches are telling players what to do and it's all wrong ? Coaching poorly is one thing but weights training poorly is risky. Maybe it's time GAA change some of the funding routes ?

Kew (Galway) - Posts: 385 - 17/08/2026 13:24:41    2690181

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Replying To Farneyarmy2013:  "Its scandalous whats going on and nobody is passing any remarks. Young players all suffering from them too and its all down to S&C. There is to much being done at a young age far to many weights lifted. Go into any intercounty minor or development squad gym session most of them are lifting huge weight. This has to be taking a toll as years ago there was no S&C and there wasn't a word of ACL injury's apart from a few.

From having sons part of development and minor squads there is far to much of a focus put on size and strength rather than skill natural ability and speed. Wouldnt do any harm for young boys to go work on their weak side rather than in lifting weights because at the end of the day you cant kick a dumbell over the bar."
The main problem with increased ACL and other ligament and tendon injuries is that lads arent doing enough s and c work when they are actually growing. If you look at rugby they do more weights from a younger age, the thinking being that if you put on the muscle as you are growing your ligaments and tendons develop at the same time, getting used to that extra muscle.
While if you wait til lads are fully developed by the time they are minor or u20 before you start doing much S and C work with them their ligaments and tendons arent able for that extra muscle. Hence more ligament and tendon injuries.
Another seperate issue is that if you do that bulking up without doing any speed/sprinting/agility work you just become slow.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20488 - 17/08/2026 13:51:56    2690186

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It's widely acknowledged that female athletes/footballers have a higher rate of ACL than males . That puts the s & c theory to bed because in general ladies don't do the same workload in the gym as men

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2563 - 17/08/2026 14:06:19    2690192

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Replying To Viking66:  "The main problem with increased ACL and other ligament and tendon injuries is that lads arent doing enough s and c work when they are actually growing. If you look at rugby they do more weights from a younger age, the thinking being that if you put on the muscle as you are growing your ligaments and tendons develop at the same time, getting used to that extra muscle.
While if you wait til lads are fully developed by the time they are minor or u20 before you start doing much S and C work with them their ligaments and tendons arent able for that extra muscle. Hence more ligament and tendon injuries.
Another seperate issue is that if you do that bulking up without doing any speed/sprinting/agility work you just become slow."
Rugby is a different game and they don't do weights like you are saying just look at Sam prendergast

Kew (Galway) - Posts: 385 - 17/08/2026 14:07:36    2690193

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Replying To Viking66:  "The main problem with increased ACL and other ligament and tendon injuries is that lads arent doing enough s and c work when they are actually growing. If you look at rugby they do more weights from a younger age, the thinking being that if you put on the muscle as you are growing your ligaments and tendons develop at the same time, getting used to that extra muscle.
While if you wait til lads are fully developed by the time they are minor or u20 before you start doing much S and C work with them their ligaments and tendons arent able for that extra muscle. Hence more ligament and tendon injuries.
Another seperate issue is that if you do that bulking up without doing any speed/sprinting/agility work you just become slow."
I 100% agree. Lads are arriving into minor and senior panels having done next to no gym work suddenly their in the gym 3 nights a week lifting massive weights. The problem is clubs dont have the resources the start lads on proper programmes at a young age to ensure this problem doesnt keep getting worse.

Farneyarmy2013 (Monaghan) - Posts: 38 - 17/08/2026 14:09:31    2690194

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Replying To Farneyarmy2013:  "Its scandalous whats going on and nobody is passing any remarks. Young players all suffering from them too and its all down to S&C. There is to much being done at a young age far to many weights lifted. Go into any intercounty minor or development squad gym session most of them are lifting huge weight. This has to be taking a toll as years ago there was no S&C and there wasn't a word of ACL injury's apart from a few.

From having sons part of development and minor squads there is far to much of a focus put on size and strength rather than skill natural ability and speed. Wouldnt do any harm for young boys to go work on their weak side rather than in lifting weights because at the end of the day you cant kick a dumbell over the bar."
"Young players all suffering from them too and its all down to S&C."
Is it now? And where did you get that information from?

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2957 - 17/08/2026 14:26:32    2690198

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Replying To Farneyarmy2013:  "Its scandalous whats going on and nobody is passing any remarks. Young players all suffering from them too and its all down to S&C. There is to much being done at a young age far to many weights lifted. Go into any intercounty minor or development squad gym session most of them are lifting huge weight. This has to be taking a toll as years ago there was no S&C and there wasn't a word of ACL injury's apart from a few.

From having sons part of development and minor squads there is far to much of a focus put on size and strength rather than skill natural ability and speed. Wouldnt do any harm for young boys to go work on their weak side rather than in lifting weights because at the end of the day you cant kick a dumbell over the bar."
Viking is correct above. Appropriate S&C training (including weights) from a young age actually helps in preventing those sort of injuries later on.

Somebody may jump in now and say "what about so-and-so, he's only 22 years old and has been doing S&C since he was 14, and he suffered an ACL injury anyway". Well, it's not a guaranteed prevention against it. But for every case like that, there could be 10 or 20 or even 100 cases of others who put the same strain on themselves during a match or training, but who didn't suffer an injury, thanks to the work they've done.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3878 - 17/08/2026 14:30:10    2690199

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Replying To Kew:  "The GAA spend millions on coaching but have they addressed fitness? How many coaches are telling players what to do and it's all wrong ? Coaching poorly is one thing but weights training poorly is risky. Maybe it's time GAA change some of the funding routes ?"
Agree that weights training poorly is risky, but in fairness, wouldn't think there are too many clubs and definitely not too many county squads where it isn't done under the supervision of a qualified S&C coach.

My own club does it now from U14 level upwards. We bring in a specialist S&C coach for all those sessions, who tailors things according to size, age, strength, etc. It's not a case of an "ordinary" club coach telling the lads to just go lift weights for a while and see how they get on.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3878 - 17/08/2026 14:32:28    2690201

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Replying To eoinog:  "It's widely acknowledged that female athletes/footballers have a higher rate of ACL than males . That puts the s & c theory to bed because in general ladies don't do the same workload in the gym as men"
There's more to S&C than the gym.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8711 - 17/08/2026 14:58:11    2690204

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Replying To Kew:  "Rugby is a different game and they don't do weights like you are saying just look at Sam prendergast"
Not sure your experience of rugby, but I played it in the 80s and 90s. Thats what I was doing myself at school back then, as was everyone else. And from what Ive been told by parents who have kids in the Leinster academy thats still the case now.
Our county u14s in Hurling and Football have mostly bodyweight exercises that they enter their progress on an app. I shared these with our club u14s. They do some supervised gymwork in 7 of our secondary schools organised by the county. At u15 they start doing more weights ok. This has been the case the last few years.
Sam Prendergast is an out half. He doesn't need to be overly big. He needs to be able to kick well off both feet, see the game and plan accordingly, be elusive in possession, explosive off both feet, and pass and tackle well. He still does a tailored gym programme 3 days a week. All professional sports people do.
Another mistake club lads especially make is that they think gymwork is just for winter. If you stop doing what you do in the gym even for a few weeks it would amaze you how much of what you gained you will lose in even that short period of time.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 20488 - 17/08/2026 15:41:08    2690209

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