An ordinary meeting of the Society was held at the Ampfield Golf Club on Wednesday 5th December. The President was in the chair. After he had opened the meeting a minutes silence was held in the memory of Dr Douglas Pearce and Prof. Anthony Frew. The President then introduced the speaker Dr Greg Warner who spoke about Football Medicine. He entertained us with a light hearted resumé of of his life in football. He was a GP in Romsey for 26 years before becoming a full time football doctor. He was approached by the then Saints doctor, Dr Chris Lawrence, asking if he would like to help out at Saints.This eventually led to a full time appointment which he has held on and off ever since. At one stage he was also MO to Portsmouth Football Club at the same time. He told us of his relationships, good and bad, with numerous managers. Harry Redknapp is his favourite, but he enjoyed the company of many of the others. He described the changes in professional qualifications that have become necessary over the years. He himself had a lot of casualty experience from working in A&E for many years, which was fine at the start but with time specific diplomas became necessary. He started with a diploma in Sports Medicine followed by a time in New Zealand researching and writing an MSc in Sports Medicine. He then discussed the difficult nature of the Appointment Medical saying it required great clinical acumen and attention to detail in both history taking and old fashioned examination in order to be not caught out. He said there was far too much reliance on scans nowadays - both at this medical and after injuries. Club Chairmen who had spent a lot of money on a player often, in their ignorance, thought scans were the answer to everything - and perhaps better than their MO’s opinion. He also considered there was too often a rush to surgery after injury which was unnecessary if only time had been taken to perform physiotherapy and await a natural recovery. The medical department budgets of the teams he served were much lower, and their players were out of action for less time, than comparable high budget clubs. He said a lot of the work is in fact general practice, as you weren’t only dealing with injuries but with the personal problems and ailments as well. He thought that the experience of being a good GP was the best qualification to becoming a good football club doctor.