‘Enforce it or scrap it’

Burke calls for clampdown on county training

WICKLOW Senior football manager Davy Burke has called on the GAA to clamp down on what he claims are counties returning to training before the approved date of September 14, while the Kildare native also dismissed speculation that his team had done just that.

Since March 8, all intercounty training has been suspended in the wake of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, and the GAA has recently confirmed September 14 to be the day on which they can return. However, recent reports have emerged alleging that some counties had already gone back to training, something which Burke says needs to be stamped out.

‘We’d just be very conscious that we are playing by all of the rules here and all of the guidelines and I would be very much into getting that out there, and to try and see if Croke Park is going to try and assist anyone here. They need to step up here now because there are counties that are going to be miles ahead of other counties.

‘If our opposition in the national league, when we kick off in the middle of October, have an extra month done, then we are going to be in for a bit of a beating because it is very simple: preparation trumps everything,’ Burke said.

‘At the minute, it is only lip service. The longer our opposition get to prepare, the better they will get, and there will be no level playing field then. You are devaluing the championship if one team is further ahead than others. All of our league games in Division 4 are 50/50 games. Our draw against Wexford in the championship is a 50/50 game.

‘I really think the GAA need to come out and enforce it or scrap it. Everyone has their own slant on it.’

Following Burke’s claims that he had heard that teams from Division 4 had returned to training, this paper reached out to each county - Waterford, Wexford, Antrim, Sligo, Carlow, London, and Limerick – for comment. At time of writing, Waterford have denied the rumour.

Wicklow themselves have been subject to rumours claiming that they had gone back to training early, with some allegations coming to light that they had been back for as much as four to six weeks. Burke vehemently rebuked this.

‘Only (Wednesday), a good friend of mine, who is a sales rep and works in the Wicklow area, said to me, ‘aw, you’ve four weeks done, I hear.’ We have not done collective training since March 13. I think I haven’t even driven across the Wicklow boundaries since March 13.

‘It is quite frustrating that that level of stuff is going around when it is completely inaccurate. If the other teams in Division 4 are up and running, it leaves us behind. I am sure that there are plenty of teams adhering to guidelines.’