Timeline of Ian McKinley’s Career

1989: Ian McKinley is born in Dublin, Ireland. 2002: Ian is introduced to playing rugby at St. Columba's College, a Section A school, with limited rugby profile. 2002/03: Ian features on a Kilmacud Crokes Gaelic Football Team that wins the All-Ireland U14 Féile. 2004: Ian plays for Dublin u16 in Gaelic Football 2007-2008: Ian is selected to play for Leinster Schools (Under-19), and is capped four times – against Bedford Academy, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. Ian wins three caps with Leinster Under-19s during the same period – against Ulster, Munster and Connacht. Ian is called up to the Ireland Under-19 squad, and is capped twice – against Italy and France. 2008: Ian finishes school, enters into the Leinster Rugby Academy, and joins UCD on a rugby scholarship. 2008-2009: Ian is capped four times for Leinster Under-20 – against English Counties, Ulster, Munster and Connacht. He joins the Ireland Under-20 squad, and is capped nine times – against France, Italy, England, Scotland, Wales, Argentina, New Zealand, Wales and Samoa. 2009: Ian captains the Ireland Under-20 Rugby Team in the 2009 Junior World Cup in Japan (for their last game – against Samoa), and earns his first cap for Leinster at the age of 19. At the time, there were only a handful of other players to play for Leinster at that age. 2010: Ian commences his professional career, signing a contract with Leinster Rugby. During his career with the club – which lasted until August 2011 – he receives: Six Leinster caps – against Newport Gwent Dragons (x 2), Aironi, Cardiff, Treviso and Glasgow. Five Leinster ‘A’ caps – against Bristol, Munster (x 2), Ulster and Connacht. Eight British and Irish Cup caps – against Plymouth Albion (x 2), Cornish Pirates (x 2), Newport, Worcester Warriors, Currie and Bedford Blues. He also plays in two non-capped Leinster games – against London Wasps and Leicester Tigers. January 2010: Ian loses the sight in his left eye during an All-Ireland League (AIL) Division 1 match between University College Dublin and Lansdowne Rugby Club, when a team-mate accidentally puts his stud in Ian’s eye during a ruck, causing a full rupture. 2010-2011: Following a six month recovery from the original injury Ian remarkably resumes his career as a professional rugby-player, playing with Leinster and St. Mary’s College, albeit with very limited visibility in his injured eye. He plays without any protective eye-wear, and is awarded Man of the Match for Leinster against Treviso in the RDS in 2011. After being deliberately gouged in two separate AIL matches, however, he takes the difficult decision to retire at the age of 21. His decision was motivated by a desire to protect his good eye, rather than any incapacity caused by the loss of vision in the other one. 2011: Ian begins attending the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire (IADT-DL) to study Sports Psychology. 2012-2014: Ian moves to Italy to take up the position of Technical Director and Rugby Coach with Rugby Leonorso in Udine. 2013: Ian begins collaborating with John Merrigan and Dr. Enda O’Dowd, designers on NCAD’s Masters in Medical Device Design programme, to find a solution that would enable him to continue playing rugby. He plays a key role in the development of the protective goggles, which are now being manufactured by Italian firm Raleri and used by 525 players worldwide. January 2014: Ian encourages World Rugby to commence a trial of the protective goggles. The organisation specifies that domestic unions have the choice of opting out of the trial. The goggles are now being trialled internationally in 24 unions (including seven of the top 10 ranked nations in the world). Only the Irish, English and French unions opt out of the trial. Since it began in January 2014, in all the multiple age-grades, contexts and standards of testing, not one injury or incident related to the wearing of the goggles has been reported to World Rugby. March 2014: Ian resumes his career as a professional rugby player, joining Italian third division side Leonorso, and wearing the protective goggles in all games (to date, he has played with the goggles in 36 top-level rugby matches). He scores 28 points in his debut game for Leonorso. August 2014: Ian joins Italian club Viadana (one of the biggest sides in the Italian league) and commences playing in the National Championship of Excellence. Since he joined, he has played 18 games and has scored 143 points in the League. He is awarded ‘Man of the Match’ four times in his first season. In total, he played 25 games last year. 2014-2015: Ian is made Vice-Captain of Viadana Rugby Club. April 2015: Ian plays for the Barbarians as part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, playing in the 97-31 win against Scottish club Heriots. He becomes the first ever rugby player to play with protective rugby goggles on the world-renowned Barbarians Team. May 2015: 2015: Ian is voted, by the Italian public, as runner-up 'Best Player of the Year' in the Italian Eccellenze League. September 2015: Ian is called up to the Zebre squad, as a permit player in a short-term deal, due to the Italian side being without several players due to injuries and World Cup commitments. 5th October 2015: Ian plays for Zebre against Llanelli Scarlets in the Pro12 competition in Parma, Italy. He is due to play in Zebre’s next competitive fixture – against Connacht, in Ireland, on 16th October. 9th October 2015: Ian receives a letter from the IRFU, stating “It has now been made clear to us by World Rugby that in view of our non-participation [in the trial of the protective rugby goggles], the IRFU will be in breach of World Rugby Regulations if we permit participants, whether form our own or other rugby jurisdictions, to wear goggles in a match in Ireland”. Therefore, Ian now faces a situation whereby the IRFU will sanction him to play in Ireland if he does not wear the goggles, but will not sanction him to play if he wears this key piece of protective eyewear. 13th October 2015: Ian writes letters to the IRFU and World Rugby, appealing for a speedy resolution that would allow him (and other rugby players affected by a similar situation) to play across all jurisdictions.