TonyK
CibbuanoAFL to conduct review of ground safety
May 17th 2008 01:37
THE AFL has signed off on new player safety measures at ANZ Stadium and will conduct risk assesments at its 11 other playing venues.
The review comes in the wake of Sydney's Barry Hall badly breaking his right wrist against West Coast in round four when he crashed through a flimsy and poorly placed advertising sign and collided with the stadium's steel fence.
Hall had to undergo surgery to insert a pin and several screws in his scaphoid bone, putting the key forward on the sidelines for eight to 10 weeks.
AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay said she was confident special protective padding covering all steel railing at ANZ Stadium which will be in place for the Sydney-
Essendon match on Sunday would greatly reduce the chances of another player being injured.
The AFL will also ensure all advertising signage, made out of plastic and similar to corrugated cardboard, will not exceed the height of the fence-line.
Risk assessments at the other 11 venues used by the AFL to ensure there are no other player safety concerns that have been overlooked by the league will commence shortly.
"Each and every one of those venues now will be assessed and a report provided by our risk assessor of any issues (or) potential issues that may occur as a result of impact from a player," Lindsay said.
"This is the starting point. We've now done ANZ Stadium and the other 11 venues will be done over the next month or so."
Despite measures set to be introduced to ensure the safety of players, Lindsay could not guarantee another Hall-type injury wouldn't happen.
"I wouldn't say that you are confident it wouldn't happen (again). I think the nature of game says injuries occur week in, week out," Lindsay said.
"But I think what obviously we have implemented here for the next round of football obviously eliminates some of those concerns our risk assessor had, that's for sure.
"I think probably the major issue, to be honest, was the temporary fence-line signage height.
"I think when Barry ran into the fence his expectation would be that the fence would support him because of the height of the signage. It just folded as soon as Barry put his hand on it and as a consequence of that his body went forward and he broke his wrist on the railing of the fence."
The review comes in the wake of Sydney's Barry Hall badly breaking his right wrist against West Coast in round four when he crashed through a flimsy and poorly placed advertising sign and collided with the stadium's steel fence.
Hall had to undergo surgery to insert a pin and several screws in his scaphoid bone, putting the key forward on the sidelines for eight to 10 weeks.
AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay said she was confident special protective padding covering all steel railing at ANZ Stadium which will be in place for the Sydney-
The AFL will also ensure all advertising signage, made out of plastic and similar to corrugated cardboard, will not exceed the height of the fence-line.
Risk assessments at the other 11 venues used by the AFL to ensure there are no other player safety concerns that have been overlooked by the league will commence shortly.
"Each and every one of those venues now will be assessed and a report provided by our risk assessor of any issues (or) potential issues that may occur as a result of impact from a player," Lindsay said.
"This is the starting point. We've now done ANZ Stadium and the other 11 venues will be done over the next month or so."
Despite measures set to be introduced to ensure the safety of players, Lindsay could not guarantee another Hall-type injury wouldn't happen.
"I wouldn't say that you are confident it wouldn't happen (again). I think the nature of game says injuries occur week in, week out," Lindsay said.
"But I think what obviously we have implemented here for the next round of football obviously eliminates some of those concerns our risk assessor had, that's for sure.
"I think probably the major issue, to be honest, was the temporary fence-line signage height.
"I think when Barry ran into the fence his expectation would be that the fence would support him because of the height of the signage. It just folded as soon as Barry put his hand on it and as a consequence of that his body went forward and he broke his wrist on the railing of the fence."
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