SWPL open to injury solidarity fund to help fund operations

McIntyre is well aware of the ACL injury issue and the difficulties some clubs may have in meeting the cost of health insurance for their players, so while the men’s game in Scotland has been reluctant to embrace initiatives like a common solidarity fund, the SWPL CEO says that is one option her own organisation is very much open to exploring.

READ MORE: Rangers' Tess Middag on ACL injury hell, and lowering risk for women

McIntyre said: “We had our club AGM last week and we spoke in general terms about medical care and cover at clubs, and if there is a way to support players, whether that is collectively or through the league.

“So, the examples we were given were players who have had significant injuries that required operations, for example.

“At this point in time those individual players - and on some occasions the clubs – are paying fees to get private medical care to get the operation so they are not having to wait on the NHS. This is slightly more in the context of amateur players, actually, because of the impact that has on their livelihoods and injuries may prevent them going to their work.

“We realise we are at that crossroads of having professional players, but also some amateur players, and these injuries can have a really significant impact.

“Most of our clubs don’t necessarily have medical insurance that covers those injuries and operations. A lot of clubs have a pay-as-you-go scheme where if a player gets an injury that requires an operation, the club will pay for it.

“For some of the clubs in the middle to lower section of the league where the players are amateur, that’s an unknown cost every year that can be difficult for them to meet.

“Where we got to at the AGM was that me, the SWPL and our board would undertake to have a discussion on how we can support these players. Is there a fund we can create? Would the clubs be happy that we take away a little bit of the distribution that normally goes out to them directly, so that clubs can apply to that fund to get support in those kinds of instances?

“Or, could we actually go out and speak to a BUPA or a commercial partner that may be willing to put funding into that kind of space? That wasn’t specific to ACL injuries, but to be fair, a couple of examples given were ACL injuries.

“So, that is where we are at the moment. We are aware of it, we are keen to support and do what we can, and we will work with the clubs to see if there is a centralised solution that we can help with.

“That is a solution to the medical care and cost, of course, it’s not a solution to actually help prevent these injuries in the first place. And that is something we really need to look at, because as we know, prevention is usually better than cure.”

McIntyre is keen that the SWPL and other stakeholders in the women’s game in Scotland come together with medical professionals to assess just what they can do to aid that injury prevention, with the likes of Dr John MacLean – chief executive of the Hampden Clinic and previous contributor to this investigation – increasingly narrowing down the factors that make female players especially vulnerable to ACL tears.

“I don’t think it’s a Scotland problem, it seems to be a women’s football problem, so we have to work together on the issue,” McIntyre said.

“We’re pretty opened minded. To my view, we are willing to look at anything that can help keep players healthy.

“As a former player, I’ve got a lot of respect and a lot of sympathy for players who get injuries, and the impact that can have on them not just as a football player, but on their lives.

“But also, from my perspective at the least if I look at it more selfishly, we want the best players on the pitch all the time. From all perspectives, we are willing to support wherever we can.

“Where it gets slightly challenging is in terms of what we have control over. Coach education obviously sits with the SFA, and I know they work really closely with Doc MacLean and the Hampden Sports Clinic.

“My personal view is that it requires all of those different parts to come together, those with the medical expertise to give us insights into why they think it’s happening, and what preventative measures could help lower the incidences.

READ MORE: Astro pitches? Menstrual cycle? Expert separates ACL fact from fiction

“We are never going to prevent all injuries in football. It’s the nature of the sport that injuries happen, but how do we come together?

“What we have is probably not too dissimilar to what they have in the men’s game, in that you have the big clubs at the top that have the specialist staff and the best medical care, and then we have got amateur clubs further down – and I mean that respectfully in that they are largely run by volunteers – who won’t have that medical staff.

“There are a lot of things that are on the list of potential factors, but to what extent? So, are female bodies naturally more susceptible to a particular injury because of elasticity of ligaments, or because of physiological factors, for example?

“What can we do to mitigate those higher risks, if indeed they are higher risks? From there, you can start to make decisions and clubs can make decisions around their player loads and how they prepare their players, and we as a league can look at how we structure competitions to help in that scenario.”

One area that McIntyre and the SWPL do have a level of control over, as she references, is in managing the increasing work load that players are being asked to take on as the popularity of the women’s game explodes.

“One thing I am aware of is that we have moved from an amateur environment into a professional one quite quickly, so things like training loads and physical expectations on the players have gone up,” she said.

“That may be a factor, but I am always conscience of making assumptions when I’m not a medical expert. But that could be something in Scotland that is a factor.

“Across the globe really women’s football has moved from a largely amateur to a professional environment quite quickly, so that is bound to have had an effect on player’s bodies just in terms of the training load they are expected to undertake and the level of fixtures we are playing now.

“Everything is at a higher level, so that may be a contributing factor.

“It would take the medical team to tell us what actually contributes to those injuries and what football can do to help, then it requires the league and the clubs to be part of that conversation in terms of how we structure our competitions as best we can. It could be things like we don’t have two midweeks back-to-back, because that’s five games in 14 days, if that’s a factor.

“The doctors might tell us though that that is not a factor, that’s why we don’t want to go charging in and making changes blind. I would like to have the medical information so that we as a league can do things that we can control, whether that is around scheduling and fixtures or on the other side of it, around coach education and how we ensure the coaches are across what they need to be.

“In the women’s game, there is an extra FIFA window as well, so in terms of players being away and international travel, there’s more FIFA windows. This year, if you include the World Cup, there are seven.

“I understand that commercially and in terms of growing the women’s game, but you’ve then increased the number of high intensity, competitive fixtures.

“So, the number of competitive games that FIFA schedule is outwith our control really. All we can do is lobby and let them know that there are too many.

“We are committed to supporting players however we can, though, and we will listen to the experts and take any measures that we know are going to help.”