Irish Examiner view: A stark reminder of the dangers of sport
Galway boxer John Cooney died after receiving treatment at Belfastâs Royal Victoria Hospital after his defeat by Nathan Howells at the Ulster Hall on February 1. File picture: Niall Carson/PA
The sad news of the death of 28-year-old Irish boxer John âKidâ Cooney is a bleak reminder that for many sports people head injuries fall into the definition of âindustrial accidentâ â a high risk associated with their profession or pastime.
Cooney was taken to intensive care after his first defence of his Celtic super-featherweight crown was stopped in the ninth round in Belfast on Saturday, February 1.
He underwent surgery after it was discovered he had an intracranial haemorrhage.
Cooney, from Co Galway, was fighting the Welshman Nathan Howells after winning the title in November 2023 in Dublin. He had spent a year out of the ring with a hand injury.
Ex-world heavyweight champion Frank Bruno described it as âa sad dayâ while former double WBO European champion Conrad Cummings from Craigavon, Co Armagh, said he and his fellow boxers were âabsolutely devastatedâ by the death of a young âwarriorâ. He added that the âtragic incidentâ highlighted how dangerous the sport can be.
Even in a sport as regulated as boxing we must be aware that blows to the face and head can have dire and tragic consequences. That these are magnified when there are not doctors and experts hovering nearby is self-evident and are grimly explained in a new work, , by the noted playwright James Graham which opens in London next month.
Graham examines the awful repercussions when a young man strikes another â in this case a trainee paramedic â in an affray. The campaigning UK charity One Punch Can Kill attributes at least 80 fatalities to single blows to the head since it started collecting statistics in 2007. Similar examples can be found in the police and court reports.
It is not only in matters of boxing or street violence where impact incidents have highly damaging outcomes.
As the Six Nations entered its second week, a class action brought by hundreds of former players over neurological problems they say have been caused by their sports careers moved forward with timetables outlined for the historic case to be heard.
Progress is excruciatingly slow because of legal arguments but presiding judge Jeremy Cook expects to issue instructions for a trial which should commence within two years.
âWhen Moses led his people out of the wilderness, it took 40 years to get to the promised land,â he said pointedly. âWeâre not going to spend that amount of time wandering around.â
There are currently 386 claimants from rugby union and 177 from rugby league. Around a dozen from each code will be chosen to come to trial on behalf of the entire cohort. There are seven different conditions diagnosed among the claimants. If this challenge is clearly visible on the horizon for rugby, it is scarcely less so for soccer with the launch of a new pressure group â Football Families for Justice â demanding action over a âdementia crisisâ caused by repeated headers.
Research commissioned by the Football Association from the University of Glasgow found that defenders are five times more likely to be diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease than someone who was not a professional player. In an interview this week the former Manchester United centre-half David May said constantly heading crosses from David Beckham in training was, if you got it wrong â . . . like getting a punch in the face off a boxer. Youâd see stars.â
Boxing, rugby, soccer are all sports in which people willingly and enthusiastically participate. But evidence is mounting that they can produce the same results as acts of violence unless further forms of protection are implemented.
The news ahead of last nightâs Super Bowl in New Orleans that Ireland is to host its first NFL game in 2025 may be the opening step in a charm offensive to rebuild bonds between the US and the âould countryâ, which have appeared more fragile since the arrival of a 47th president intent on gingering up international relations.
The match, scheduled for Croke Park, will see the Pittsburgh Steelers take on an unconfirmed opponent and generate about âŹ64m for the Irish economy.
Pittsburgh will be classified as the âhome teamâ, which is a sound choice. The Steelers, whose owning Rooney family had ancestors from Co Down, played a pre-season game for the âAmerican Bowlâ â in reality, a Waterford Crystal trophy â and defeated the Chicago Bears in an encounter in July 1997.
The late Dan Rooney was a former ambassador to Ireland and the Steelers have held the marketing rights for the NFL in the Republic and the North since 2023.
The Super Bowl is famed, some would say notorious, for its half-time entertainment, and last nightâs choice was hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar and fellow Grammy winner SZA.
Whether there will be an interval show at Croke Park, we donât know yet. We are familiar with the kind of music (âYMCAâ) that Donald Trump likes, and with his fist-pumping dance. With the likelihood that there will be other games in the future, perhaps this is a good opportunity for us to demonstrate how to throw some new shapes.
Every so often, something hoves into public view, the revolutionary importance of which is not immediately appreciated.
Few would have thought 50 years ago that a gentle sitcom about recycling, sustainable living, growing your own food, and working from home would have become an influential megatrend of the 21st century.
Yet the BBC comedy , which made its debut in April 1975, introduced us to principles which millions embrace today.
The environmental concepts espoused by Tom and Barbara Good (Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal) in their escape from the rat race, to the irritation of their ambitious neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter (Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington), are now familiar and accepted.
Perhaps one of the modern lessons is that we are more responsive to persuasive humour than preaching.
