Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
SOCIOLOGISTS HAVE LONG agreed that most competitive team sports involve a cultural commitment to a sports ethic: the willingness to make sacrifices; the acceptance of risk and the possibility of participating while enduring pain; and, an acceptance that there is no limit to the pursuit of the ultimate performance. This ethic often becomes more visible to the eye only when we stop to reflect.
Concussion or sports-related brain injury has been lying in plain view behind a set of highly established beliefs around risk which impact on how players, coaches and the general public view the injury.
Concussion is similar to other injuries in terms of the acceptance and normalization of injury and the expectation to play on, as well as the associated burden on sports medics to declare players fit to train or return to a game.
Crucially, however it is different because it is potentially life threatening. It is also unique in having discrete and often lengthy codes of practice and protocols written into the regulations of sports.
Loss of consciousness does not occur in the majority of cases and there can be limited perceived impact on sports performance because of its complex presentation as well as delayed and even hidden symptoms. There is also emerging research about longer-term harm, including dementia and other debilitating cognitive impairments, associated with repeated sub-concussive impacts that shake the brain.
‘You’ll play at all costs’
Despite the growing awareness surrounding the injury, there are many who are aware of concussion but, for various reasons, are ill-inclined to act. Some even actively oppose preventative action.
In our research at Ulster, we found that players had developed a high tolerance towards pain and injury, and an irreverence of sorts to concussion, which led to a set of self-exempting beliefs about its management.
In Gaelic games, we have well-established research on pain and injury attitudes and on the risk of burnout.
As part of my research, we gathered testimonies about the views of players regarding concussion:
Having completed an awareness programmes, these players continued to deny the existence of concussion. The explanation for this is cultural.
Addressing culture is crucial
The most important of the cultural enablers when it comes to managing concussion is identity – personal and group identity. Culture is the glue that holds sportspeople together.
From an increasingly young age, we are socialised into the culture of sport in Ireland, specifically, a culture that values risks and rewards those who exhibit the right attitude: the players that take one for the team, the player that takes a risk for that ‘big game’ because the coach and team needs him or her.
As one Gaelic player put it:
Well as I know, scientifically and logically, it’s very negative [to play with pain and through injury]. You should be looking after your body and health and you should be taking all the time out. You shouldn’t be risking anything that’s going to be a threat for you in the future. But as a player, it’s good [playing through pain and injury]. It makes you a stronger player and better in the future … It sounds so petty but what doesn’t kill you does make you stronger.
Such judgements about about risk and its perceived value to sport are given to perhaps only one other occupation – the military. This tells you something of the elevated position of sport in the lives of people, around the world and here in Ireland.
Being socialised into this leads to a set of self-exempting beliefs about health that are specific to competitive sport.
Put simply, revised concussion protocols, posters and awareness workshops are most likely to have limited impact, especially in amateur and community sport.
Sports bodies such as the GAA need to first examine the effects of pre-existing cultural imperatives, in particular, the imperative to play through pain and injury, no matter the cost.
Dr Katie Liston is a former elite sportsperson, senior lecturer and researcher in the social sciences of sport at Ulster University (Jordanstown).
HEAD IN THE GAME Investigation
Do you want to know if the GAA is doing enough to tackle concussion?
The Noteworthy team want to do an in-depth investigation into this issue and find out if the culture of staying on the field while injured is still prevalent in gaelic games, especially when it comes to head injuries.
Here’s how to help support this proposal>
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Why not just reduce the men’s pay down ? They all get paid way too much anyway
@GRONG: Chris Evans could surely do with a lower salary, but Graham Norton is worth every penny.
@GRONG:
The BBC are competing for talent on an open market. If they reduce the likes of Graham Nortons salary, he may go looking elsewhere for better terms
@Tweety McTweeter: let him go elsewhere, in reality he would have to leave Britain to earn more.
Gary Lineker gets nearly 2 million for a show that is presenter-proof. Ratings would be unchanged if Dan Walker or Gabby Logan presented. It’s strange how it can be justified.
@Derek Goulding: people forget that he also presents the most popular radio show in Britain. His breakfast show on Radio 2 attracts millions of listeners. Not saying he deserves his huge pay. But he presents more than just MOTD.
I wonder what their wages are compared to their viewship numbers. Are they advocating for equal pay despite being less popular or profitable? Also, you’ll never see feminists push for equal pay in modeling, fashion jobs, pornography, or any job which women are paid vastly more than men. Also, you’ll never see feminists push for gender quotas in dangerous jobs. 99% of workplace fatalities are men, and that’s the way feminists like it.
@50 Pence: isn’t Oprah one of the highest paid TV stars in the world. Why don’t feminists complain at her pay being so much more than many male equivalents
@gjpb: because she owns the production company so paid herself?
@gjpb: not a public service broadcaster either, paid for by a government enforced payment.
@Paul Fahey: so it would be OK in a commercial TV company?
The wages has to do with ratings. It just happens that the most successful BBC presenters are men. Pull up your socks and stop moaning ladies
@Ger Murphy: male and female co-hosts on the same show are paid vastly different amounts
@Ger Murphy: Chris Evans? It is nothing to do with ratings, but he you can detail how a female newsreader in the same news bulletin can be paid less then men, but prove it to be down to ratings then I am happy to be convinced.
@Paul Fahey: and how many years is Evans there? Years
.. Not that I like the guy he’s an absolute plum
@Dave O Keeffe: the male in the cases that were highlighted in the guardian was doing the show for a longer period as well as doing additional shows that the female was not doing
@Paul Fahey: Chris Evans has a breakfast show on Radio 2 with 8 million listeners but i suppose if you don’t like him they should reduce his wages
@Dave O Keeffe: not true
If they think they are being underpaid why don’t they leave and get a pay raise elsewhere?
Do RTE have similiar plans to publish full list of their presenters salaries…..Do they have same gender gap in pay as the BBC….
This sort of stuff makes me sick. It’s cultural marxism. Good example is Emily Maitlis, i’m sorry but she does NOT do the same job as Evan Davis. Davis is the anchor Newsnight host, does it 3 nights a week during the three nights with the highest viewership and often when the most complex political stories are breaking. Maitlis anchors it one or two times a week, often on a Friday night when no-one is watching and she does some reporting for the show. There is no way in heck they are doing the same work, yet she is hopping on the gender bandwagon and likely to get a big pay rise. Sickening.
@Fred Jensen: and there was you last year arguing that a Brexit vote would effect workers rights and equality.
@Fred Jensen: I didn’t realise complex political stories broke on the same days every week
@Dave O Keeffe:
Then you don’t know much about politics, politicians have the weekend off too usually.
There is a lady in work getting paid more than me yet we do the same job. But to be fair she is selling more..
More pay gap nonsense. People just eat this up without looking at sources themselves. If you are paid less in violation of the legislation in place it would be simple, sue them. But they’re not, they are paid according to their original negotiations, ratings, work load, length of service etc. If there was a gap because you are a woman it would be illegal. Any gap there is, is because the market doesn’t value you the same – and that market contains 53% women btw. I was told on here by a feminist to shut up whinging, let me direct that back at you now, shut up whinging and do better at your job. Stop looking for more money for doing less and being of less value to the market.
They should stop moaning & be grateful for the high salaries they already are earning.
Must be galling for feminists to have to admit that despite the inroads made through gender quota initiatives men in media are held in much higher esteem by the public right across Western civilization.
What people get paid is a lot more complex than their gender. It seems the women are just using this gender thing as an excuse to up their wages. The market for hiring male presenters seems a lot more competitive for the male presenters, thus the higher wages. Its nothing to do with gender inequality. Its the market.
Not this again. If there was such a thing as “pay gap” then why don’t company’s get women instead of men as they would save more money. It because it is a bunch of nonsense.
Give us money because we are women, that’s what all this nonsense is turning into. How about show viewership/listenership figures, how about show hours worked. This is just more of the pay gap lie which is an earnings gap. They never compare like with like , they never show hours worked, type of jobs worked. Its just play school economics where they take all male earnings v female earnings and compare only that. If you want the true representation of whats going on the show the ” Gender Performance gap”.
This would not happen in Ireland as Dee Forbes DG of Telly Eireann looking for a huge licence fee increase for the cosy quango and all the so called RTE stars only release their salaries nearly on foot of a high court order.All journalists are paid far too much a bit like CEOs in the goverment friendly charity sector. Openess and transparency for every institution that gets public money but not RTE as they know they are a Goverment propoganda machine.
Ah yes, but how much do gay people get paid in comparison to straight people, that’s the real question of our times.
It’s beyond absurd to suggest there is any gender gap in pay at the BBC, Fiona Gormless Bruce has little to complain about not the ghastly Claudia winkerman. It’s all about talent and negotiations and it would seem a damned good agent, this said is it being seriously suggested all women at the BBC are paid the same as Fiona Bruce? If so it would be bankrupted. As for the Male’s, again it’s Talent, Ratings and negotiations, Chris Evans is a multi millionaire and was so long before his stint at the BBC. The only surprise has to be Jeremy Vine, WTF is going on there, must be the prouncing around the Election night virtual reality set I guess
Disappointing comments for the most part on this. I am so sick and tired of men dominating radio and television. Really galling that the few women who are in the BBC are being paid substantially less than the men. It is illegal to discriminate on gender. Men are not better broadcasters than women they just get more chances. Are you on the side of fairness or the old white man elite ?
@carodeer: what rubbish.look at the amount of female presenters on TV.
No doubt you now want quotas on TV too
@carodeer: Fairness. Which is why i disagree with you. You may be sick of the male presenters but that’s your opinion. Some men are paid more because they are more popular. It is illegal to discriminate on gender so obviously you agree this must not be the reason for the pay difference. It may be because they are not worth that level of pay, or don’t do the extra shows and research required. Just maybe its not because women are victims again. Maybe its because they are not as good.
@carodeer: The above list of highly paid women amounts than more than a few.
Let’s look at this absurd idea of a gender pay gap:
We live in a capitalist society. The main goal of the majority companies is to make profits.
Let’s assume men and women do exactly the same job across the board. Now let’s assume the women get paid 25% less than the men.
What should the business do?
Simple answer: Hire all women and no men.
QED…And I didn’t need an econometric model, just common sense.
Claire Balding??? Christ, under no circumstances should she be equally high paid…
The problem here is determining what equal work means. Let’s say a man presents for 3 hours at the BBC and a woman presents for 3 hours…Should they get paid the same?
Well no. Not if the man is Graham Norton and the woman is Claire Balding…
Tá sé bréige. Níl sé fíor ar fad! NUACHT BRÉIGE!
The best way to solve this would be to only employ men.
@TehJurolan: or they get Chris Evans to declare his gender as non-binary
What I want to know is why the hell are there not more black people and Muslims and Chinese in top positions in our Northern European Christian country, it’s a disgrace, is what it is. It was bad enough when it was discovered that there were hardly any black people and Chinese people and Muslims to be found in the country at all(thank God we’ve been rectifying that disgusting situation) but NOW THIS – UNBELIEVABLE!!
Explains a female actress taking over Dr. Who role?
Can the Journal release a breakdown of their payments for their employees?
have your say