The GAA website is silent on the subject, and the one collection of obits I found mixed players and supporters, often with no indication of the causes of deaths.
I don’t suppose drinking too much Guinness Stout counts as an “Irish Hurler” death?
AFAIK more people die in France from soccer related injuries but the FFF doesn’t mention them on their site, why should the GAA do the same?
I can’t remember anyone in the past 20 years having died from on on-pitch hurling incident but would be happy to get the straight dope!
If there were many on-pitch deaths the sport wouldn’t be as popular with families as it is. Injuries, sure enough, there are lots of them, deaths, not so much. All the big county matches are screened live on TV, I can’t recall any deaths, and if there had been, I’m sure we’d have been alerted to it.
The last young GAA player who died that I can think of was Cormac Mc Anallen, the Tyrone football captain, and he died at home, from a viral cardiomyopathy.
The GAA may be many things, but it’s not one for vast silent conspiracies and covering up deaths. Hurling is an amateur sport, so you’re talking about teachers, builders, publicans, shopkeepers and farmers dying, not a loss that could easily be kept from their community.
I’m thinking the reason for the lack of statistics is because there is a corresponding lack of deaths directly related to hurling.
A young Cork Hurler died last August but it was a freakish occurrence. Anecdotally, there are far more injuries in junior and club hurling because the skill levels aren’t as high.