I agree but the BS is that although we are told what gate to go in, once in the ground you can actually have more access around than normal
In any case, is there is a COVID positive at the footy, nothing stops it potentially spreading in and out of the venue.
I am all for restrictions, but what they are doing is just lip gloss.
You’re not supposed to leave your seat unless you are getting food, drink or going to the bathroom.
I thought they blocked off sections of the ground too?
I think it’s more about being able to reach / determine those likely at risk. Easier to do that with 10k (eg one section) vs 40k.
At least they’ve nixxed the kiss-cam
Revolutionary mouthguards fitted with hi-tech chips to monitor head knocks are planned to be made available to the football community within two years.
The AFL started trialling the data chip in 2019 and it is now being used by half the players across the league.
By the end of the year, the groundbreaking concussion technology will be available to every player, and is expected to be provided to AFLW players by next year.
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In a huge leap forward for community football, the mouthguard device is expected to be rolled out for all grades, including juniors, by 2023.
The custom-made mouthguard costs up to $500 but the AFL will discuss making it more affordable at grassroots levels with developer HitIQ.
The mouthguard is moulded to fit a player’s teeth, with a sensor chip inside it.
The chip logs head knocks, including acute impacts and the subconcussive accumulation of the hits.
The AFL has, this year, injected cash into a broader rollout of the technology after two years of trials, which initially involved four clubs.
The aim is to give players, medicos, clubs and the AFL data to help diagnose athletes with concussions and brain injuries, and rehabilitate them.
HitIQ co-founder and managing director Mike Vegar with the mouthguard. Picture: Supplied
Demon rising star Kysaiah Pickett wears the new mouthguard technology. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos
Mike Vegar, managing director of HitIQ, said: “What we’ve been able to do with the mouthguard is effectively turn it into a sensor device.
“We’re able to identity and monitor every single head impact that the players experience.
“What we’re delivering to the AFL is a prodigious asset, which is a big database of head impacts, which ultimately will further inform a better standard of care for the athletes.
“There are going to be so many insights that come out of this data set — and ultimately it’s going to be a great outcome for the athlete.”
About 400 AFL players already wear the chip system.
Essendon legend James Hird has backed the new technology. Picture: Michael Klein
Included among investors in the HitIQ project is Essendon great James Hird. The AFL has committed $1m a year over a decade for further concussion studies and projects.
AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said the mouthguard project would provide valuable data to the league and concussion experts.
“The partnership with HitIQ and the data we can get from the mouthguards will be extremely important in furthering our research in this area,” Mr Dillon said.
“The uptake from clubs and players has been really encouraging and we are committed and intrigued to find out what the data will tell us over the coming seasons.
“The partnership and study will complement our continued action in this space over recent years including strengthening of the match-day protocols and amendments to the Laws of the Game to discourage high contact.”
Shane Tuck was found to have a serious brain injury after his death.
Danny Frawley’s death was one of the AFL’s great tragedies.
Concussion is the single greatest concern at all levels of football. The deaths of Danny Frawley and Shane Tuck have led to a greater focus on head trauma and its association with the brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The four clubs involved in the 2019 trials were Essendon, St Kilda, Carlton and Western Bulldogs.
The technology has also been trialled in the NRL, including with players from Melbourne Storm.
Eight AFL clubs agreed to be part of the trials in 2020.
The AFL Players’ Association supported the mouthguard trials across 2019-20.
“Through recent club visits, we have encouraged all players to participate in 2021,” AFLPA executive James Gallagher said on Tuesday.
“This project is an opportunity to learn more about the connection between head impacts in football and concussion, using objective data.
“Importantly, the use of these mouthguards will generate data associated with all head knocks, not just those that result in a diagnosed concussion.
“We are also pleased that AFLW players will have access to the mouthguards from next season.”
Father of two and junior football medic Ashley Mai, whose sons Jonah, 10, and Harper, 8, play for Eltham Junior Football Club, welcomed the technology, saying he was concerned about kids suffering head knocks.
“Having something to give you feedback is fantastic,” he said.
“I think the technology is really good, especially being a medic myself and having to deal with head knocks during footy games.”
HOW THE CONCUSSION ISSUE HAS UNFOLDED
1995: Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council declares that football “players should not continue to play after they have been concussed”.
2001: US neurologists predict the potential of “cumulative concussions” and brain degeneration in sports outside of boxing.
2005: The first reported case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — the crippling neurological disorder linked to repeated head knocks — is diagnosed in the brain of a deceased NFL football player.
2011: AFL publishes the first “Management of Concussion in Australian Football” document that says “complications can occur if the player is returned to play before they have recovered from their concussion. This is why any player with suspected concussion must be withdrawn from playing or training immediately. Furthermore, no player with concussion should be returned to play in the same game”.
March 2011: Melbourne player Daniel Bell reveals his clinical diagnosis with a brain injury linked to multiple concussions.
2012: The AFL Medical Officers Association disputes suggestions CTE will be found in Australian Rules footballers.
2018: The Australian Sports Brain Bank is created by Michael Buckland.
February 2020: Football great Graham “Polly” Farmer becomes the first Australian rules player to be diagnosed with CTE.
February 2020: AFL orders that players need to complete and pass a concussion test a full five days before playing again.
September 2020: Herald Sun reveals footy champ Danny Frawley was suffering from CTE at the time of his death.
September 2020: Mark of the Century high-flyer Shaun Smith receives a $1.4 million concussion damages payout because of crippling brain injuries suffered while playing football.
January 2021: Shane Tuck becomes the third VFL/AFL player to be diagnosed post-death with CTE.
January 2021: Herald Sun reveals the AFL will introduce a 12-day mandatory rest for concussed players.
That might be the first article iv read that hasnt described hirdy as “disgraced ex coach” in a long fkn time.
This is actually a really good idea
Some of the gadgets I work with have a knock sensor on them (or on the packaging), can tell you if they’ve been dropped or run into a wall.
I’m surprised they didn’t attempt some craven headline about Hird experimenting on players again
So do they know what to do if the sensor is triggered, sit out games, retire, sue?
Please be true, get that moron out of afl house
Geelong aren’t stupid enough to hire this idiot, we’ll probably end up with him.
I dunno who would be a worse appointment, Hocking or Sutherland
Apointing sutherland might give them a shot at poaching Hawkins replacement from cricket.
Better than X
While acknowledging the pioneering work of Boston University’s Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, the AFL MOA’s Dr Hugh Seward questioned the credentials of Chris Nowinski - a co-director of Boston’s CSTE who met AFL Players Association boss Ian Prendergast in America last month - to comment with such confidence on a foreign game.
‘‘We’ve got no evidence to suggest that the condition we’re seeing in America from multiple head knocks - up to 1500 in a season - is akin to what we see in Australian football,’’ Dr Seward said.
‘‘We’re not naive. We’re trying to understand it, and we’re looking at every aspect of past players and current players to understand it properly. At the moment we have no evidence that CTE is an issue, and the long-term brain damage that they’re talking about in America may not exist in Australia.’’
LOL Clown.
No one from Collingwood or fark Carlton have ever suffered a brain injury.
Can’t they take Xavier?
Pre existing conditions don’t count.
When Collingwood couples get divorced, are they legally still cousins?
Where is @Heffsgirl
Yes
I trust you saw sidear se being called for deliberate ?
