TOTAL EXPOSURE
Hypocrisy is completely undermining these restart plans, with players now facing their ‘I Spartacus’ moment...
THE elephant in the room has just been made public in a very dramatic way. Not just the elephant, more a whole herd. Players who are being asked to train by county managers despite being expressly forbidden until September 14 by the GAA’s own guidelines, and while the player insurance scheme has been suspended until that date.
County board officials who know exactly what is going on and are either facilitating it or choosing to turn a blind eye.
The GAA, who are complicit in all of this by saying one thing, knowing the reality is going to be different. They know full well the stories on the ground about their guidelines being flouted and yet decide that it’s not their responsibility to police them, or put in place the necessary sanctions that might deter teams.
In his explosive interview with Joe Molloy on Off the Ball on Monday evening, Michael Duignan showed the leadership that has been sadly lacking by all of those with a major share.
The Offaly chairman, double All-Ireland winner and Irish Mail
on Sunday columnist, called out the hypocrisy and dishonesty around what is happening on the ground.
Compare that to the statement by GAA president John Horan last Friday at the unveiling of the All-Ireland fixture list. ‘We’d like people to call them out but we’re not actually intending to impose any penalties,’ he said.
This came across as a bad joke. As if some sort of confidential helpline is needed when they work hand-inglove with the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) on all sorts of matters. Their last partnership agreement was worth €18.6million.
Paul Flynn, the GPA CEO, sits on the Covid-19 Advisory Committee which the GAA established.
Which Horan himself is on.
Now, if only there was a person or players’ body who knew exactly what inter-county players are being asked to do. Like, seriously? It’s not the GPA’s role to police the GAA’s own guidelines is one obvious response. But that, too, is a cop-out. If the GPA want to stand up for their members, want to stand with the GAA in upholding the guidelines, then why not be on the right side of history? Show the leadership that is required to protect their own members in this unseemly tug of war between club and county and tell them to stand down. To unite as one as per the GAA guidelines. If the GPA took that lead as an executive and asked for members to back it, imagine the kudos they would receive. Imagine how that would reframe what is happening now. Align the GPA and its members with the club player. With the club scene.
Instead of this farce where the players are the pawns on the front line, where their best interests aren’t being served amid the haze of negative publicity that has surrounded what should be a positive news story — that there will be a club championship in 2020, and there will be an AllIreland Championship.
If there are aspects of the September 14 return date that counties are unhappy with, that players or managers feel need tweaking, then sit down and thrash that out.
The GPA and Duignan have pointed out that it would be fairer for players to be allowed return to county training once their club championship participation ends.
If a September 1 date is more realistic and will actually be observed by all parties, then be big enough to try and work out a compromise — one that isn’t doing the association all this reputational damage at a time when the vast majority are just delighted that the season has been restarted.
In this paper today, Derry chairman Stephen Barker wants to see a unified approach. He says it’s a club and county debate, not a club versus county debate — an important distinction that reframes the whole issue.
Duignan went so far as to question whether an All-Ireland triumph would be tainted if it turns out that the winning county returned to training before September 14. That it would cheapen and undermine any title.
Is there not a single inter-county player then who is going to stand up between now and September 14 and say publicly they are uncomfortable with being asked to break the GAA’s own guidelines?
This is the players’ ‘I Spartacus’ moment.
What if the GPA commissioned a survey asking one simple question: ‘Are members comfortable with breaking the GAA’s own return-to-play guidelines and being asked to train with counties, with no injury scheme cover, before September 14?’ The findings would be very interesting.
Guidelines without sanctions are just not going to work. It’s like having a speed limit but no speed checks or follow-up for those speeding. No court procedure or threat of penalty points or license being revoked.
In the Irish Mail on Sunday at the weekend, Turlough O’Brien expressed his dismay at county teams being back, labelling it a disgrace. After only recently stepping down himself as Carlow manager after six years in charge, he said there was no way he would ask players to break the guidelines.
‘I think it’s a disgrace. A disgrace that any county is back training before they were allowed. I really do. I’m very annoyed to hear...I heard stories about this early on, that it was happening. It’s just not good enough. We’re speaking out of both sides of our mouth,’ he said.
It’s not too late yet for all parties to work together so that club and county can both prosper after a pandemic that highlighted the value of setting guidelines — and sticking to them.
“It’s not too late for all parties to work together”