Covid scares remind us what’s at stake
WE’RE not sure how something so predictable could catch us on the hop and, yet, somehow it still managed to. What happened this past week was always going to happen. The virus has not been eliminated. People are still contracting it and other people will come into contact with those who have. The notion that GAA clubs could manage to avoid this reality was always fanciful and, to be fair, very few if anybody imagined that they could. Still, though, there’s a world of difference between acknowledging that on an intellectual level and the having those fears confirmed in reality.
When news filtered through last week about the scare in West Cork that saw Argideen Rangers, Ballinascarthy, and St Oliver Plunketts suspend all activity, no doubt it sent shivers across the collective spine of the GAA. Everything felt a lot more real all of a sudden. Close, much too close to home. At the very least it acted as a timely reminder to everybody involved just how serious a situation it all is, how little it would take for the whole thing to collapse in a heap even before a ball was kicked or pucked in anger. The protocols – the sanitising, the contract tracing, all of that – is there for a reason.
In the case of the West Cork clubs it looks like everything worked as it should have done. The information came to light in a timely manner. The clubs took decisive action and within a few days they were back in action with no infection occurring. Another Cork club, Glanworth in the north of the county, haven’t been quite as lucky as their West Cork counterparts. Their scare was very real. One of their players tested positive for Covid-19 as did a player in Dublin club Man O’War. It’s going to be really interesting – and vitally important – to see how the GAA reacts to it. The Cork County Board statement about the Glanworth case did say they would, following consultations with Croke Park, consider what implications it would have for county competitions. It could well be the case that in the event of a positive such as this that a club might be required to concede a fixture. Given the tight timescale for these games, there’s no chance of a refixture. That might tough on a club under normal circumstances, but these are no ordinary times.
As an aside, we should be wary of being too judgemental of any player who contracts the virus. Even if you behave impeccably you could end up getting infected. That’s just the nature of the thing. There’s no need for the valley of the squinting windows routine.