Will clubs be as honest when the games start?

AT the time of writing on Wednesday afternoon the number was seven. By the weekend it would be a surprise if there wasn’t one or two more. At least. By the following weekend it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think the number won’t be into double figures, with 12 or 13 probably a conservative guess. We are referring, of course, to the number of GAA clubs that already have or will suspend their training activity because of concerns around positive cases of Covid-19 therein.

In the last week four clubs in Cork, and one in Tipperary, Dublin and Down suspended activity because of concerns that a player or players had the Coronavirus or had come into contact with someone who was possibly Covid-19 positive. It was absolutely the right thing for all those clubs to do. As soon as club officials became aware that there was an issue involving one of their players, and by extension a threat to the rest of the club’s players and others, the only course of action was to suspend all activity until full contact tracing was done and the member in question was tested and returned a negative result.

It would be absolutely wrong to suggest that the decision to suspend activity by the clubs in question was made easier by the fact that this is still a time when only training is going on; that no competitions are underway yet, and therefore with a swift return to activity those clubs won’t miss out on any competitive games.

But that doesn’t mean we cannot or should not ask this question: would a club be so honest and quick to admit to a suspected case of Covid-19 when they are in the midst of the competitive season? Or if a player came to a team mentor or officer in the days before a county final saying they were in the presence of a symptomatic person who is now awaiting a Covid-19 test result, would that mentor or officer move immediately to suspend all activity, even at the risk of forfeiting their team’s place in that county final?

People might recoil in horror at the mere suggestion that such a serious matter might be swept under the carpet in certain circumstances, but as the fella said, in earnest, on the Pat Kenny Tonight show a few years ago, ‘people are mostly human’ and humans are not without their shortcomings. And especially when it comes to sport. Indeed, for a number of different reasons, a county final appearance can be complete kryptonite to a weak-minded club chairperson, or an under-pressure manager.

Ask any club team manager or chairperson this week what would they do if a player came to them with concerns that they were experiencing Covid-19 symptoms or were in contact with someone who has or might have the virus, and to a man or woman they will say they’d call a halt to training and stand down all they players.

And there would be no reason to doubt for a second their sincerity.

Now, take, say ten adult clubs in every county that were to qualify for a county final at some grade in late September / early October and hypothesise that in the week leading up to every one of those 160 finals a player on each panel intimated to a manager or chairperson that he was symptomatic or was in contact with a Covid-19 positive person in recent days. Do you believe every one of those teams would suspend activity straight away, which in many cases could mean forfeiting their one chance at a county title?

Bill Shankly, the former and successful Liverpool manager, is often quoted as saying ‘football isn’t a matter of life and death, it’s much more important than that’. Well, it’s really not.