STIGMA FEARS
O’Shea worried about Covid-19 tests going public
AIDAN O’SHEA is worried about the ‘stigma’ attaching to GAA players testing positive for Covid-19, if the information is made public.
The Mayo star is a keen basketball fan and referenced America’s NBA, which is preparing to return next week with teams and players living in a ‘bubble’ in Disneyworld in Florida to try and minimise the risk of infection. NBA players who have tested positive have been identified, but O’Shea believes a similar scenario could raise serious difficulties in Gaelic games.
‘There does seem to be that stigma around somebody that has Covid-19, whether that is a county footballer, or somebody that is walking down the street,’ said O’Shea, speaking to Basketball Ireland’s Bench Talk show.
‘I think the impact [on] an inter-county footballer, or even a club footballer at this moment in time, who potentially tests positive to Covid-19, it has a real knock-on impact [on] maybe their career, or where they are working, or there is this kind of scaremongering that will happen.
‘I’m not sure the players would be very
comfortable about the way the NBA are doing it, announcing that they have Covid-19, especially as amateurs.
‘It is probably something that we need to do a bit more thinking about, how we go about that, because the question is out there.
‘Like, if somebody on our team gets Covid-19 and you can go through all the contact tracing, would another team be comfortable playing, what are the implications for the team and stuff like that? There are elements to that we don’t know and we probably won’t know until it happens.’
On his immersion in club football as part of the game’s managed return, O’Shea said he is relishing spending time training with Breaffy, to an extent he has not been able to manage since emerging as a county senior in 2009.
‘Being back with the club has been a really nice way of getting back at it,’ he said.
‘Usually I wouldn’t have this consistency with the club, so it’s great to be back amongst the boys. It’s probably a change for the guys, they are not used to having us (county players) around during the week. It’s a nice change to be honest.
‘For my club, you know, for the last 10, 12 years they probably see me for less than 10 sessions a year and so being able to be with them literally every training session is a great change.’
Aidan O’Shea was speaking on Basketball Ireland’s Bench Talk, which takes place on their social channels every Wednesday at 8pm.