Injury fund won’t cover Covid case

IT’S A great boost to the general population to have their local playing fields open for business again, but spare a thought for the hard-pressed club officials who have multiple issues of a pressing practical nature to deal with.

It’s certainly not as black and white as simply getting back to participating in club games in the middle of next month, with a number of genuine concerns being expressed.

One example prompted the Rathgarogue-Cushinstown GAA club to write to the County Board’s management committee before the latter’s meeting of June 17.

They wanted to know if players would be covered under their injury fund for absence from work if they contracted Covid-19 in the course of GAA activity.

The meeting noted that the fund doesn’t provide cover for such an eventuality. It will be extremely important for all players to know that before making the decision whether to play in the forthcoming club championships or not.

Meanwhile, there is no mercy for players due to serve terms of suspension carrying over from dismissals in the 2019 championship.

Faythe Harriers had written in the hope that, due to the exceptional circumstances surrounding this shortened season, there might some be deviation from the norm.

However, there is no change to the status quo, meaning that any player set to serve a two-game ban arising from a sending-off and subsequent disciplinary ruling in 2019 faces the prospect of possibly missing out on this entire campaign.

In relation to the need for clubs to source hygiene and signage products for re-opening purposes, the management committee stressed that local businesses should be supported if at all possible.

A total of 13 clubs had applied for their walking tracks to be reopened by June 17.