Fifa approval for Wits centre
1 April 2008The University of the Witwatersrand's Centre for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine (CESSM) has become the first facility of its kind on the African continent to receive the Fifa Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) stamp of approval.
The centre, established in 2004, is aimed at integrating sports science and medicine to investigate sports injuries, sports performance, doping in sport, as well as chronic disease.
"Our aim is to be the centre of choice in education, technology, research and service in sports medicine, science, health and fitness solutions," said CESSM director Dr Demitri Constantinou.
The first of its kind on the African continent and the sixth in the world, the CESSM seeks to offer footballers in South Africa and across Africa not only the best treatment and diagnosis of injuries, but also injury prevention procedures and plans.
Prestigious achievement
Constantinou said
the university was honoured that Fifa recognised it as a medical centre of excellence, as well as a contributor to football medicine locally, on the continent and internationally.
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang added that Fifa's endorsement of the CESSM as a Medical Centre of Excellence in Africa was an exciting and prestigious achievement not only for the university, but also for South Africa and the continent as a whole.
She added that the centre would go along way in promoting the medical profession within the sporting arena and applauded the university on its achievement.
2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) chief executive Danny Jordaan said that despite South Africa’s poor performance in the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana, Bafana Bafana’s much-improved performance against Senegal in their final match was as a result of their fitness and health.
He explained that local players and European players differed in physical stature and that local players were unable to reach their full potential because of a lack of scientific and medical support and rehabilitation after sustaining injuries.
The CESSM, said Jordaan, would give Africa a solid foundation on which to provide greater support to players of the game ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and beyond.
Football injuries
Fifa chief medical officer and F-MARC chairman Professor Jiri Dvorak said there are about 268 million active football players in the world.
"In France an average of 37 000 football matches are played every weekend, and in Germany 72 000 games are played over the weekend. On average, an injury is sustained every 1.6 games, and it costs about US$150 (about R1 217) per person for that injury which is costing the game an exorbitant amount of money," he said.
"The focus of sports medicine must be on prevention and a reduction in the injury rate."
Dvorak explained how research done by Fifa had found that the average child who began playing football before the age of six was less likely to sustain injuries as easily as a child who started playing after this age.
He highlighted that the game of football must be promoted as a healthy activity and that the game should be used as a platform on which to disseminate messages regarding violence against women, HIV/Aids and other communicable diseases.
Other F-MARC medical sports centres are located in New Zealand, Germany, the USA, Switzerland and Japan. Apart from the one in Japan, the CESSM at Wits has become only the second centre in the world located within a tertiary institution.
Source: BuaNews
