The Football Association of Ireland has withdrawn the use of a target net used in soccer camps following the accident on Thursday in which a 10-year-old boy died.
Andrew Fitzgerald died after goalposts collapsed on him while at a Holycross soccer club camp in Grange, near Bruff, Co Limerick. He will be buried tomorrow after 2 p.m. Mass in Bruff church.
He had been taking part in a penalty shoot-out at a soccer camp. An FAI-approved target net, designed to improve shooting practice, had been fixed to the portable goal when it was caught by a gust of wind, overturning the goal post which hit Andrew on the head.
An FAI spokesman said yesterday they were not aware of any safety concerns about this piece of equipment at the moment but "as a mark of respect we will not use it in the immediate future".
Andrew is the second child in less than a year to be killed in such circumstances. Last September Lee Lucchesi, also 10-years-old, from Dundalk, was standing beside the goal during a soccer match at the Navan Town team's football ground, in Co Meath, when the crossbar collapsed and struck him on the head. Although the FAI was not involved in the Bruff soccer camp, a spokesman for the organisation said they would not be using this piece of equipment in their camps in the future.
"We are not aware of any safety concerns about this piece of equipment at the moment. As a mark of respect we will not use it in the immediate future," the spokesman said. The FAI's chief executive, Mr Fran Rooney, also expressed his sympathies to the family. "No one can say anything at a time like this which adequately expresses the sadness we all feel at the tragic loss of a child. Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents, family and friends of Andrew who was a great lover of football".
Bruff gardaí are investigating the freak accident and while a Health and Safety Authority inspector visited the scene, the authority will not be conducting an investigation. A spokeswoman said the soccer camp was supervised by people working on a voluntary basis, and this was beyond the authority's remit. The great-grandfather of Lee Lucchesi who died in Navan last year, yesterday expressed his sympathies to Andrew Fitzgerald's family.
Speaking from his home in Dundalk, Mr Alvara Lucchesi said he understood the Fitzgerald family's grief. It was almost a year since Lee's death and "we are living with the pain always. It will never go away".