GAA to instruct clubs on protocol for players contracting Covid-19

THE GAA is expected to give guidance today on the protocols to be followed by clubs if a player contracts Covid-19.

As teams return to contact training from Monday, the GAA hopes to be in a position to provide further information on what steps should be taken in the event of an infection being detected, as well as defining that close or casual contact is in the context of Gaelic games.

This guidance is due to come from Government, but the GAA may well provide their own advice this morning when the national fixtures plan is released in Croke Park.

“We are still awaiting advice from Government on this,” said the GAA’s director of games, club and player welfare, Feargal McGill, in the latest GAA.ie briefing.

“It’s not just the GAA who are waiting on it, it is all sport. We hope to have something in place before the weekend, however if we don’t we will provide additional advice ourselves to address that question.”

There are still concerns over how a return to play will work out with 17 per cent of inter-county players still uncertain, according to a Gaelic Players Association poll which is in line with other surveys conducted on the same issue.

As expected, the remaining games of the Allianz Football League will be played on the first two weekends of the inter-county season, October 17/18 and 24/25, followed by the provincial championships.

Football will be a straight knockout because there are not enough weekends to facilitate qualifiers if the championship is to be wrapped up before Christmas.

HURLING will have a back door and new draws for the Munster and Leinster provincial championships, whose round-robin groups have been shelved, will take place on RTÉ’s SixOne news this evening. The hurling championship is being earmarked for a start on October 24/25.

The All-Ireland U-20 football semi-finals, the provincial and AllIreland U-20 championships and the minor championships will also go ahead from October onwards, but are unlikely to be played as curtainraisers to senior games because of restrictions on crowds.

Meanwhile, sport in Northern Ireland looks set to align with the south after the NI executive met yesterday and indicated that competitive games could start on July 17, the same date that the GAA has scheduled for a return to action. Full details are expected to be published on Monday when contact training can recommence, mirroring the same timeline as the south.

Elsewhere, The Dublin senior hurling and football finals will be played on the weekends of September 12th/13th and September 19th/20th respectively, avoiding significant overlap with the beginning of the revamped inter-county schedule.

The agreed format provides at least three championship games for clubs, while the relatively early completion dates will come as a boost for both Dessie Farrell and Mattie Kenny.