Club players the big losers as their hibernation starts

THERE IS little doubt that April is the cruellest month for the ordinary club player, having been promised so much but with so little delivered. Having played early round championship games in both football and hurling, the players signed out of competitive action in glorious sunshine.

Now County Boards along with Croke Park have sent a clear message that the ordinary club players should be happy with their lot, after two rounds of football followed by two rounds of hurling, but now the best months of the year will remain a wasteland for them.

A quick survey of the individual county results each Monday in the national papers showed that very few counties scheduled rounds of championship action in both hurling and football, while the majority of counties have decided not to commence their county championships until their inter-county season is complete.

Of the counties who did go out and play championship games, coupled with those who opted against the Croke Park directive, it shows the uneven balance that exists in our games throughout the country.

There is no cohesive club championship season, leaving the players now to vanish into the sunshine, but to be ready for a sudden call when it’s decided to resume the club championship campaign.

While some counties were busily playing off club games, Armagh were undertaking a sunshine training camp in Portugal, while the Wexford hurlers will return to their base of last year at the end of the month for a similar camp, that will take them into the final weeks of championship preparation.

Wexford decided on having four rounds of club games, taking them up to the week ending April 21, but as the concluding round was taking place, one could see the cracks beginning to appear.

Take, for example, Armagh who, like the rest of Ulster, left their ‘club month’ entirely devoid of championship action, leaving the counties free to prepare for the provincial championship.

The same applied to many more counties, but few would accept the situation in which Wexford football finds itself.

As you will read elsewhere, Wexford Senior manager, Paul McLoughlin, is anything but happy with the timeframe allowed to prepare for their provincial championship opener with Louth on May 12.

Less than three weeks to have a squad ready for top level inter-county football, having had just two recovery sessions in 29 days, with half a squad for one. What message does this send out?

It’s probably fair to say that an inter-county training camp in a foreign country is precisely not what ‘club month’ is supposed to be.

It is now clear that the concept is not working and that the G.A.A. need to re-visit it or else force counties to comply with the edict.

Wexford may have tried to enter the spirit of club month, for whatever reason, and this would be better left for another day’s argument, but it has done little for the club player or the preparation of a Wexford football side for the provincial championship campaign.

Club players in Wexford are being sent off into the sunshine, with little or no idea as to when the club championship scene will return, but just to be told that it will not be until the end of the inter-county season.

Wexford will be hoping this moves on into August, which would see club players not returning until September. The only light emerging, and it’s a glimmer, is that Wexford do not advance beyond the All-Ireland quarter-finals, which could lead to a late July resumption of club championship.

April is a trying month for clubs and players, as they try to lay a foundation for when the championship resumes, but for those sides who struggled through their opening two games whether in hurling or football, it’s going to make for a worrying summer.

While the county manager is usually the villain in this debate, Paul McLoughlin has been handed a poisoned chalice by the County Board management, having to prepare a championship squad in less than three weeks.

We now have a situation where the club player is battling for recognition. In Wexford the club player must envy their Senior hurlers as they once again fly into the sunshine for championship preparation, in contrast to being waved goodbye themselves for the foreseeable future on Sunday evening.