Injuries are a natural consequence of sport. They’ve been with us for centuries and a player who doesn’t suffer some setback on that front is now the exception to the rule. I bring this up because this last week alone we’ve lost Bono (out for three months) and Joe Schmidt (appendix – six weeks) and this is getting out of hand.

There is no doubt that the intense level of preparations that every sports team seems to be employing is causing an explosion in the amount of injuries being suffered. By the end of this week, almost every GAA team in the country (every serious one, that is) will be back in harness and planning for 2015. Most are already in the gym.

Once we reach the end of November, the ban on collective training is lifted and then they can come out in the open. Challenge matches will begin very shortly and the famous heavy fitness sessions, the ones that begin at ungodly early morning hours, will soon be with us.

The only exceptions to these rules are the All-Ireland champions, who have a celebration treadmill to enjoy/endure and possibly the All-Ireland runners-up who maybe carry the most pain into this winter. For the rest, it begins again.

For those that didn’t win anything significant in 2014, the first order of business will be getting back to hard training because no matter the reasons they didn’t achieve in 2014, they will be told that fitness will not be an excuse in 2015. This is understandable and the players are not going back with a gun to their heads. Much as they probably don’t enjoy this stamina work, it’s the price you pay to wear the county jersey and the cost of winning trophies.

My native Clare started this ball rolling with their famous early morning training sessions. Allied to these dawn risings was the myth of the Hill in Shannon where physical trainer Mike McNamara ran his charges up and down a steep incline a couple of nights a week throughout the winter of 1994. Fast-forward eight months later and Clare are the story of hurling, All-Ireland champions and people are asking why. One of the reasons proffered was the savage training and the early morning sessions.

They certainly played their part but heart, skill, guts, leadership and luck were probably the main factors. Clare were very fit in 1995 but they weren’t playing against unfit teams. Having done all this heavy training, however, they were utterly convinced by Ger Loughnane that no other team had endured this amount of work and they, Clare, therefore had an edge. Whether they did or not was not the point. He convinced them they had.

The myth tuned into legend and then to fact. Every team in the country adjusted in various ways. The Clare model was the way to go. Any team that wasn’t training on Christmas Day/New Year’s Day didn’t have any serious ambitions, or so it went.

It is 20 years since 35 Clare hurlers struggled up the Hill in Shannon in the dark. (Thirty-four would come down and go back up because Ger Sparrow O’Loughlin hid behind a few trees and only rejoined near the end. it didn’t hurt Sparrow that he missed some of this heavy work.)

The latest to reinvent the wheel appear to be the Donegal footballers. Under Jim McGuinness, they were reported to have trained 12 times a week on some occasions and more than 30 times a month regularly. Once they won an All-Ireland in 2012, the bar was raised again. It doesn’t matter what the truth is, some other counties will think they need to match or exceed those numbers.

Of course clubs have picked up the baton and many are employing professional strength and conditioning coaches through the winter.

Once upon a time we were told that the likes of Kilkenny and Kerry would never follow suit. They have. Once upon a time veterans would get the National League off to winter well. Not any more.

Today players are treated like never before and that we cannot give out about that. But the main reason they are is the level of preparation expected of them. That cannot happen without the back-up services of medical personnel, strength and conditioning experts, dieticians and all the rest. All this costs serious money and county boards are having to find hundreds of thousands for the training of teams.

It is now an operation that lasts eight or nine months a year and operation is the right word. Most counties have at least three or four teams like this. And don’t forget the big clubs, third-level institutions, etc. One notable secondary school takes their hurling squad on weekend training camps and away during holidays. That’s how far this has filtered down.

The likes of Seanie O’Leary and John Troy would probably never be let near a county panel today, yet these two were always effective. Today that extra few pounds would be lost before December. Tony Browne, the man who played championship hurling at the top level into his 40th year – we will never see his likes again.

There is no way to stop this tide. The stakes are simply too high. Winning has become everything. Money is there to buy the science that can make a team better. Managers and coaches are searching for any edge they can get and this is where they start. The finance is provided and no one will take a county job these days unless his back-room demands are met.

Injuries are a natural consequence of sport. The players have to abide. Athletes are needed to play at the highest level. Physical strength is a pre-requisite. If your body isn’t up to the preparation, then your chances of making it are immediately lessened. You will be found out.

Sorry, I’m not here to offer a solution. There probably isn’t one. You see, we’re all to blame. We all want so much for our county to win and we keep asking why they they’re not. County boards, managers, coaches and ultimately players are today put under unprecedented pressures. Supporters, sponsors, media and everyone else expects them to deliver. But only one team can win the All-Ireland and in today’s ridiculously over-hyped world that makes the rest a failure.

We’ve all watched idly while this has gotten out of control. Next year’s All-Ireland senior hurling and football champions are back in training right now. They have no other choice.

Is it any wonder Bono fell off the bike?