A recently issued paper in the Irish Journal of Medical Science has drawn attention to risks facing female Gaelic athletes.
Screening for Risk of Low Energy Availability (LEA) in Female Gaelic Game Athletes in Ireland looks at the dangers associated with activities undertaken with insufficient nutrition or fuel.
LEA has consequences for the reproductive system and immune systems as well as for performance, injury risk and overall mental health.
Endocrinologist Dr Aoife Courtney, the project’s lead, said that the 122 athletes surveyed in the research were a mixture of club and county players, the majority being from clubs, 16 of which participated.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the prevalence and knowledge of LEA specifically in female Gaelic football and camogie players,” the paper said.
A primary concern of the study is that the impacts on the reproductive system, such as increased intervals between menstrual periods or even complete absence, known as amenorrhoea, can have serious consequences for bone health and density.
Any disruption to the reproductive system affects female sex hormones, including oestrogen, which can also impact on bone strength and bone density.
“It arises when there is inadequate energy intake relative to exercise energy expenditure, leaving insufficient energy to support normal physiological processes,” the study said.
The paper also noted that poor nutrition knowledge had been linked with suboptimal dietary intake.
It found that 38.5 per cent of those surveyed were at risk of LEA, which is comparable to broader-based research taking in other sports. There is also reference to the supports available to player.
“Our data demonstrates that few athletes have access to supports including dietetics/nutrition, medical or both via their club (12 per cent, 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively),” the paper said.
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) consensus statements ... of 2014 and 2023 recommend access for athletes to a multidisciplinary athlete health support team including a sports physician, nutritionist, psychologist, physiotherapist and physiologist in order to decrease the health implications of REDs.” REDs, or Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, was more recently introduced by the IOC to describe a broader syndrome of health and performance consequences associated with LEA.
“As Gaelic games are played on an amateur basis across all levels, resources and funding for such supports are limited for many clubs and teams,” the paper said.
“Anecdotally, we understand that fewer of these resources are available to female GAA athletes compared with their male counterparts.”
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The Gaelic Players Association’s head of equality and player relations, Gemma Begley, said the GPA was familiar with these challenges.
The GPA reports Levelling the Field, from 2020, which tracked individual experiences, and State of Play, from 2023, which called for “female specific supports” to be prioritised, led to the commissioning of a PhD research project, Supporting Female Athlete Health and Performance in Elite Gaelic Games, by Sarah Doran to “build understanding of current experiences, improve education and enhance supports on the ground”.
Begley said these initiatives contributed to the drawing up of a charter two years ago.
“The charter introduced for female intercounty players in 2024 is a crucial step forward. This recognises there are required minimum standards to support the health and training load of our elite level players,” she said.
“There is plenty of scope for further improvements in the level and consistency of provisions across the various elements of the charter which we’ll continue to advocate for in the coming years.
“It is designed to guarantee supports such as access to nutritionists and doctors, provision of timely nutrition after training and games, [strength and conditioning] support to manage physical load and recovery, physiotherapy services for prehab, rehab, load management and sports psychologist access, which can often be an essential element to addressing the root cause of the issues around disordered eating and overtraining.”
She also said the nature of psychological support meant it was better conveyed on an individual basis rather than generic communication.
Whereas such assistance can be helpful and is widely available, “access to consistent, timely and trusted sources of info (preferably an accredited sport scientist) should be the most appropriate intervention available”.
Begley also noted that a key difference between female athletes and their male counterparts was the much younger age at which the former became senior players.
She said the PhD research would be a vital resource.
“Sarah’s study when completed will help inform the next steps for the GPA in developing enhanced supports for female intercounty players in this area,” Begley said.
“Our hope is to build an educational module or programme that focuses first on enhancing health literacy while also working with backroom teams around this.
“In the WSL [Women’s Super League soccer] in the UK, someone on the backroom team must have a qualification in the female athlete.”
Both Technological University of the Shannon and Dublin City University run “female athlete specific education modules that are currently available for coaches”, she said.
