Protect young sports players from injury

Professor Michael Molloy, Consultant Rheumatologist at Cork University Hospital, has expressed specific concerns that young teens are being exposed to activity that is much too physical for them. He argued that participation in contact sports should have an age limit, in order to protect younger children from potentially disastrous injuries.

“If there is an organised sport, minimise the amount of contact that they have because they are still in a growth phase,” he said.
“If you damage somebody’s joint at a young age it won’t grow properly and they are going to have problems for the rest of their life.

“I would think that contact sports, seeing the injuries you get in that age group, should be a minimum age of 15 or 16. For under 15s there should be very little contact.”

Prof Michael Molloy Consultant Rheumatologist CUH and Dr Niamh Lynch Consultant Paediatrician from Bon Secours Hospital pictured at The awareness, identification and treatment of concussion at the Bon Secours Hospital. Pic: Ger McCarthy

Professor Molloy also argued that to compensate for different rates of growth among teens, selection and placement on the pitch should be based on size and weight rather than age. “I don’t think a 13-year-old should ever be put out to face a 16-year-old,” he added. “They are not skeletally mature and a small knock to a 13-year-old could injure them seriously, whereas at 16 they are almost fully developed.”