For the Attention of All Registered Club Members

FOR THE ATTENTION OF ALL REGISTERED CLUB MEMBERS

“When a person willing takes part in any sport they accept the risk of injury inherent in participation, and it is each individuals own personal responsibility to ensure they have cover in place to meet their own needs. There is no obligation legal or otherwise on the GAA or clubs to provide an injury scheme or to reimburse medical expenses.”…………. Croke Park Statement

The GAA injury Scheme is the national scheme setup by the GAA to assist players/coaches with unrecoverable medical expenses and covers all registered players. Members must pay for all expenses and then request to claim them back from this scheme. (Please note that coaches, referees, linesmen & groundsmen are all covered if injured on GAA property) This is not insurance it is merely a fund financed by the GAA for use by members injured while involved in GAA activities for certain medical expenses not covered by their personal insurance and is limited to the amount specified by the GAA.

The St Ronan’s Player Injury Fund (PIF), which the club has voluntarily setup, is there to help members financially with medical expenses which are recoverable from the GAA Injury Scheme, and is used only when the player has no alternative cover or has exhausted that cover. If the player cannot afford to pay the expenses and then wait for reimbursement from the GAA Injury Scheme they can avail of the clubs PIF. The club scheme is there merely to assist players to avail of the national scheme and should be looked on as a form of loan. As with all other sports you are advised by the GAA to have your own personal accident insurance in place, if at all possible. If two or more claims are ongoing at the same time the club will subsidise the PIF from general club finance, and recover the money in due course so players need not be concerned if they know there is a claim already in process from another player.

GAA Injury Scheme & St Ronan’s Player Injury Fund

All registered club members are entitled to use the national GAA scheme and access the St Ronan’s Fund. All players must be registered members in order to play gaelic games, access to the injury scheme is just one aspect of membership, the general running of the GAA at county and national level is part financed by membership fees. The injury scheme is administered for the GAA by “WILLIS”. There is an excess of €100 and claims are paid out up to €4500.

Example: if your recoverable expenses (excluding physio) come to €90 then you will not be reimbursed any money. But if your costs come to €500 you will be reimbursed €400. A large claim totalling for example €5000 will have €4500 reimbursed and the remainder is payable by the player. All expenses have to be paid for, and receipts submitted, before “Willis” (the GAA injury scheme administrators) will pay out. As this was causing undue hardship for players with no accident cover and causing many players to refuse treatment the St Ronan’s Player Injury Fund was setup by the club to assist them.

The GAA Injury Scheme is not “insurance” in the true sense of the word. It is a fund that is entirely self-funded by the GAA from team subscriptions and central council contribution. There is no cover for some treatments such as physiotherapy (the club will contribute to your physio bills). Again to reiterate, the scheme is in place only in respect of otherwise unrecoverable medical expenses up to the scheme limit of €4500.

As St Ronan’s GAA Club wanted to protect the welfare of its players the club setup its own Player Injury Fund. If a player is unable to pay their own expenses, the St Ronan’s PIF will pay out up to €4500 for recoverable expenses on behalf of the player and then the GAA Injury Scheme will reimburse the player who in turn reimburses the St Ronan’s PIF.

PHYSIO VISITS

Physio visits are not covered by the GAA Injury Fund, (unless part of treatment following an operation covered under the scheme) the club is not obliged to reimburse players but has made the commitment to pay €20 from the PIF towards physio visits resulting from injuries sustained while playing/training with St Ronan’s, but we are not reimbursed for these appointments so we need to keep topping up the PIF so there is always enough money to cover the possibility of a €4500 claim and continue to cover the physio costs. Your help with contributions to the PIF through fundraising is appreciated.

PROCEDURES

We advise players to register injuries even if they do not think they will need to make a claim as claims cannot be made after 60 days and the full effects of your injury may not become evident for weeks or months.

Reporting injuries sustained at training - Injury must be reported to the coach taking charge of the session, if the effects are not immediately obvious report the injury as soon after training as possible. Coaches will log the injury with the claims officer.
Injuries sustained at matches – All injuries will be logged by the referee and recorded in the referee’s report which must be obtained by the club secretary to support your claim. You must report the injury to the PIF Claims officer through your coach, again if the effects are not immediately obvious you must report the injury to your coach as soon as possible.
Processing a Claim - Please contact the club secretary for a claim form or download it from , you only have 60 days from the date of the injury to register a claim so it is important to make contact quickly, you can withdraw from the claim at any time if you do not need treatment, but it can only be registered within 60 days of injury, so it is best to register in case it does not become apparent that you need treatment until sometime later. When the PIF Officer has been informed of your injury they will assist you with your claim and availing of the clubs PIF if you need to use it.
Physio Visits – Submit your receipt together with the date of your injury to the PIF officer (Martin Gaffney is assistant PIF Officer his sole responsibility is to accept physio receipts & bring players their cheques other queries go to the PIF officer/secretary). If the need for physio is not attributable to one single incident then please just indicate this to us when submitting the receipt, as we do understand that there are other reasons physio is required other than a specific injury. We will issue you a cheque from the PIF as soon as possible.

For further Information or assistance contact:

Secretary & Player Injury Fund Officer

St Ronan’s GAA Club

Ballyfarnon

Boyle

Co Roscommon

Email: