BLANK CHECK
GAA boss says no to closed door matches
THE GAA will not ‘contemplate’ an All-Ireland championships without spectators.
As the GAA published its road map to action yesterday, including setting an October 17 date for the start of the inter-county championships, director general Tom Ryan hinted they would only take place if some fans are allowed in.
Quizzed if the GAA could follow the English Premier League model of televising all games in the event of fans being locked out, Ryan insisted it was not a scenario the GAA would even contemplate.
‘Games behind closed doors is not something we want. It’s not something we’re really contemplating, it’s not something we’re actively pursuing.
‘The answer is no. You’re really talking about last, last resort territory there,’ insisted Ryan, speaking at a remotely conducted press conference yesterday.
The GAA roadmap will see clubs return to training on June 29, with the resumption of club competitions from July 31.
“We didn’t just pluck a date to return out of the air”
GAA chiefs were unapologetic yesterday as they confirmed that the return of the intercounty season had been put on the long finger.
It was not so much the October 17 date set as the earliest that any inter-county action can take place – although it is two weeks later than the start of October deadline hoped for – but the fact that inter-county teams will not be able to return to training until September 17 that is likely to enrage managers.
But Croke Park bosses insisted they have the players on their side, with Director General Tom Ryan pointing out yesterday that the GPA had been kept in the loop with the phased and delayed return of what is being labelled ‘project throw-in.’
And while Croke Park may be anticipating protests from managers, Fergal McGill – Croke Park’s Director of Games Administration/player welfare – insisted that every stakeholder in the game would have to accept compromise. ‘I think it’s very realistic,’ said McGill last night. ‘There is a cake here that has to be divided among a massive amount of participants.
‘The overwhelming body of participants are club players so I think on any terms if you are given a full month to prepare a team, that’s plenty.
‘We would love to be able to give intercounty team managers more, we would love to be able to give the club more. It is just not possible in the constraints.
‘We had a couple of team doctors in our group so we didn’t just pluck a date out of the air.
‘I think it’s practical. I don’t expect managers to be happy, far from it, but that’s a very different thing to whether it is practical or not,’ said McGill.
Despite this still being an evolving situation, yesterday was a good day for the GAA in which it shone a light on the way forward.
It delivered on its principle of putting club before county, allowing in the process for an 11-week window that will allow most counties the latitude to go beyond playing a knock-out club championship, while also revealing how players could return without being tested on a weekly basis. Health protocols have been put in place, including the mandatory filling in of a health questionnaire and temperature checks, but while the roadmap has been outlined, the questions remain.
Donegal team doctor Kevin Moran, a member of the GAA’s Covid-19 preparation group instrumental in drawing up the roadmap, ruled out the return of contact training while the two- metre social distancing regulations remain.
However, McGill hinted that the government may take a more relaxed approached to how it applied in sport.
‘They might decide that social distancing remains in place, but for the good of the country, the mental health of people, they are treating sport differently.
‘That’s what’s implied in the Government roadmap,’ added McGill, who is also a member of the recently established government expert committee on sport.
But even if this roadmap is adhered to – and that will be decided by a number of issues, not least any spike in the allimportant R rate of the virus – what form the inter-county championships will take will not be revealed until the end of the month.
While the late start would almost certainly mean a knockout championship, GAA president John Horan insisted the option of a limited wraparound into next year remained.
‘We’ve always said we would accept it maybe creeping into the first two months of 2021, if necessary.
‘That’s always been on the cards that we may have to access January and February to finish it off but it won’t go any further than February,’ said Horan.
Whatever is decided, the guiding principle will be safety of players and public.
‘Our job as a committee, as a GAA, as clubs, is to ensure that by going to your GAA club, you’re as safe as you are going to the shop, essentially.
‘Of course we don’t want pressure on people, but I think it will naturally follow as more and more confidence goes into society, people will be doing more and more normal things with every step, and GAA is one of those normal things to do,’ said McGill.