Club GAA games won’t be cancelled over Covid
CROKE PARK will today advise county boards that games involving clubs forced to stand down due to Covid-19 issues should be postponed rather than cancelled. GAA chiefs will meet with county board chairmen today and will move to allay fears that clubs not in a position to fulfil fixtures as a result of the virus could be thrown out of the competition. Clubs will be told that their games should be refixed for a later date. Meanwhile, public health experts are this week expected to classify GAA players as ‘casual contacts’ in the event of a team-mate contracting coronavirus, quelling fears of entire squads having to quarantine. The GAA yesterday updated their Covid-19 advice in the event of a player becoming infected. ‘If someone in a club gets the symptoms of Covid they should contact their GP,’ said Feargal McGill, head of the GAA’s Game Administration and Player Welfare. ‘If their GP thinks they need to then they will arrange testing. If it is a negative test, the player can return to activity. If it is a positive test, public health will take over. ‘Public health will do an assessment and will make a decision as to who should be considered a close contact.’
AS the GAA steps back blinking into the light, the reminders are everywhere that it is a very different world it is walking back into.
And a rapidly evolving one too. As anticipated, Croke Park confirmed yesterday it had altered its roadmap, sending a directive to its clubs to keep their dressing-room doors and gyms – which had been due to open this Monday – closed indefinitely.
After a week in which a number of clubs have suspended activity due to reported cases of Covid-19 – Down GAA club Atticall the latest to go into lockdown as a result of a positive case – the recommendation by the GAA’s Covid Advisory Group to keep doors shut could be interpreted as a reaction to those outbreaks but the reality is that it is more about delivering on minimal risk to the disruption of fixtures in the weeks and months ahead.
GAA bosses will hold a meeting with county board chairmen this evening, in which it is anticipated there will be public health confirmation that players who come into contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid-19 will be deemed a casual contact.
Keeping activity outdoors – where the virus is 19 times less likely to be transmitted – will facilitate that categorisation, in the process avoiding the threat of teams going into 14-day quarantines, which would be the case if players were deemed to be close contacts.
‘It lessens massively the possibility of a player being considered a close contact. If they have only been undertaking activities that are outdoors it lessdeliver ens massively a player being considered a close contact if one of his teammates or one of the backroom personnel happens to test positive,’ explained Feargal McGill, Croke Park’s player welfare and games administration officer, yesterday.
Even though it will inconvenience players who will continue to arrive at games togged out, it is a decision that is likely to go down well with the grassroots where concern among club officials of the dangers of sticking to the roadmap was audible.
‘We had discussed this already internally and we were going to probably have recommended the same thing to our clubs anyway because of the risks involved. It is the right way to go,’ said Kerry chairman Tim Murphy.
While tonight’s meeting should some clarity on a way forward, issues still remain that are likely to be problematic.
It is likely that all counties will go down the route of an online ticketing system for spectators as capacities will be increased from 200 to 500 after this weekend, with Roscommon setting the way after revealing that they had tied with a partnership with a specialist company, Future Ticketing, to put a system in place.
It is expected that others will follow suit, but coming up with a system will not sort the primary issue which is that the capacity, particularly for senior county championship games, will – in many instances – not come close to meeting demand.
When teams, officials, media and stewards are taken into consideration, the number of tickets actually available for the public will be significantly less than even that 500 figure.
‘At the moment in Kerry we are looking at having an electronic ticketing system and we have not finalised that but we are hoping to incorporate it into a system that is userfriendly, and later this week we expect to communicate it to clubs as to how this will be advanced,’ said Murphy. ‘However, a mindset change will be required. The bigger games will be easier to do, in that they will be sold out and that is that. ‘The challenge will really be with the smaller clubs where you will not have every ticket sold in advance and you may still find people walking up on the day and that is something new we have to address.’ Some counties like Kerry, who will not begin their county football championship until mid-August, will have more time than others like Wexford, whose senior hurling championship begins this Friday night. This weekend’s games will effectively take place behind closed doors given the 200 capacity – it is likely when those deemed to have an active role is taken into account there will be less than 100 tickets for spectators – and may also explain why Wexford have gone on a solo run.
This week its board wrote to the Government to plead, in line with church openings, for the arbitrary number of capped spectators to not be applied, arguing that the county’s low virus infection rate allied to space that can be utilised in bigger venues to facilitate pods of spectators should allow for a more flexible approach.
It is unlikely that the Wexford plea will be heeded instantly and while the expectation is there could be movement next month to increase the number allowed to convene in outside gatherings, it may come too late for those quick out of the tracks to play championships. But when one door closes it allows a window of opportunity elsewhere to open.
The streaming of club matches, Roscommon and Galway both confirming a tie-up with the Waterford-based TV production company Nemeton, is an obvious way to bring the games to those who will not get to see them.
Roscommon have signalled that streamed games will be available for a modest cover charge of €5, and it is a development that others are keen to explore.
‘We are at advanced stage in that and a decision will be made this week on that. We want to get maximum exposure of our games and we want to facilitate people who can’t go to games,’ said Murphy yesterday.
Speaking about the financial fallout to cash-strapped county boards, he said: ‘As it stands, based on no competitions taking place, three months ago we were looking at an operating loss of between €350,000 and €400,000. If and when the club and county championships take place and if spectator numbers are increased you’d be hoping that is offset.’
But that is provided the ball remains in play and that, insisted Murphy, is not something the GAA can deliver without the support of its members and public.
‘What we are telling the clubs is that it ultimately has to come down to people acting responsibly, and whether that is a player, official or supporter, it does not matter,’ he said.
‘We are looking at an electronic ticketing system’
‘A decision will be made this week’