O'Donnell hits out at GAA's finance policy after head injury left him €5k out of pocket
October 14, 2023
Clare's Shane O'Donnell and Daire Gray of Dublin ©INPHO/James Crombie
Clare star Shane O’Donnell has revealed that the concussion he suffered during the 2021 season left him around €5,000 out of pocket.
The Banner County’s All-Ireland final hero had suffered the injury during a training session that June and, having completed a PhD in microbiology, had just started a new job as a product manager three days before sustaining the concussion that ended his season.
Speaking in an interview with RTE Sport, O’Donnell revealed what the injury had cost him in wages, how he almost walked away from the game the following season and now is calling on the GAA to fully cover the wages of its injured players.
"Out of the six weeks, you’re allowed to claim €300 a week, which is essentially a social welfare level of payment. You can’t claim for the first week either so I ended up claiming for €1,500,” he said.
"Obviously, that’s not going to nearly cover what your loss of wages would have been. Not to give an exact figure but it was about €5k.
"I think people would be surprised. When you see GAA inter-county players play on the weekend and someone has a severe injury, you’re thinking, 'God, I hope they get better’ but you’re definitely not thinking, 'God, I hope this doesn’t put them in financial ruin.’
"Because they’re not covered, and that’s the reality of the situation – the GAA will not cover them. And I don’t think people appreciate that. If I was the sole breadwinner or something to that effect it would definitely come into the calculation of ‘is it worth the added risk if I end up taking a bad injury or a leg-break?'
"It wasn’t personally the reason that I had considered not playing again, that was purely on health grounds, but it definitely would have to come into the calculation.
"When I went back after the six weeks, I was almost 100% certain I was going to lose my job. I had blown a six-week hole at the start. When I came back, I was doing half-days, reduced screen time days. Bearing in mind my boss was Swedish, he doesn’t know what hurling is and he doesn’t know why suddenly I was off. Thankfully he was very considerate about it and treated me fairly."
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