Done

Hi Phil
As a Hull FC supporter I and many others have been "discussing" our injury crisis. Our ongoing ,for 3 years, injury crisis. Is it bad luck or something else. Our discussion carries opinions about poor conditioning , playing players that are injured , pain killers , poor recruitment , etc right through to God hating Hull FC!! I wondered whether we in fact are simply imagining that FC are sufferring more than most other clubs and whether stats which would show the number of player/games lost for each club over the last three seasons to date are available? Does that sort of info exist? It may quash some theories or raise some concerns. Of course it's not just the number of injuries and their duration but which players it affects , ie , those in key positions or general "troops" but it would nonetheless be interesting to see. It should be pretty even if the law of probability applies. If it's not then are there reasons why some teams get more injuries than others , could we learn from those that get fewer and are injuries in fact generally getter more commonplace in the game , if so should we be doing more about it? Thought it was something you could get your "statistical teeth" into and either fan the flames of our debate or put them out!
I look forward to your response.
Many thanks
Kind regards

Would be interesting to get statistical data regarding injuries. I can accept bad luck to a point but when does it stop being bad luck and down to something else?

However in recent years when we have been on sky the injury crisis seems to have been a point made on most occasions. Leeds had thier first run of injuries earlier this season and it is the first time i have know them in th e last 3 years have a lot of injuries. Wakefield may be on a par with us as they had problems last season at times IIRC.

Did not say to ask him WHY we are getting so many injuries it was a question about whether we are alone in having so many injuries at once over the last 3 seasons and if the statistics show we are way out in front on the injury front surely it has gone past just being bad luck.

totally away from the luck issue or bad luck as we seems to have , there are a few factors that effect all players / teams with regards picking up injuries
1, most players are that much fitter these days, and much leaner with it so as with lets say soccer a lot of their players pick up strains etc more easily because they are simply carrying less beef to take the knocks and muscle bruises a lot easier than to coin a phrase a lard ass does..
so because sports science has not locked into RL a lot of players are playing with knocks or not playing with knocks that lets say players of the early 90s would not have worried about.
Players carry less fat so pick up more knocks as the barrier air bag of fat isnt there anymore

2, the collision is much fiercer these days due to the fact most players are fitter and faster off the mark and also because the 10 yard is more stringent these days with refs thus giving the players that extra yard or so run up , may sound simple but perfect sense.

3, footwear is more ergonomic thus the players are wearing fabric boots that then ply more stress to the calf areas where as the less flexible old heavy leathers did not do that as they were much less flexible..

4, Due to salary cap restraints the squads are smaller to encompass big wage players and so players are more likely to get a jab and back on the green than they would in a larger cap / squad where they would get rotated! but dont get me going about salary caps etc!!

there are many other issues like diet etc which all contribute to recovery times etc but theres a few to get you going, but remember although some will use fancy names and titles , injury science is not a science as all players recover differently..., there are factors FC have looked at like the damp weather at the start of the season that those on the coast like FC suffer more than other teams which has an impact on fatigue, but be sure the club have looked at all reasons and come up time after time with BAD LUCK

All those points are fine but it does not explain why we seem to suffer with a hell of a lot more injuries than other teams.

Very impressive and relevant, well done

This season we have been no worse or better than Leeds, Wakey, Quins etc

But it is not just this season. It is the last 3 seasons.

If someone can give me a definative answer to that I am your huckleberry !! however only the big man upstairs knows the answer to that one!!

Does the pitch at the KC contribute??
Ive been on it and was surprised how hard it was.
It was like walking on concrete

not all our injuries are attained at home tho??-another theory someone mentioned to me(who is more a football fan than anything!)-older players are struggling to keep fit since the change from winter to summer,compared to younger players????is this due to the hard pitches during summer??

Yeh but they may pick up a niggle on the harder KC pitch that leads to more serious injury

i just can't see the kc pitch being any harder than say,wigan or hudds,where football is played aswell as sl.