Pressure is putting the welfare of our players under strain
30 A total of 30 goals were scored throughout the group stages of the 2017 NHL Division 1A campaign
LAST weekend offered a vision of what a transformed GAA summer could look like. Big games in hurling and football, across the board. Nearly every county out in a game that mattered. Huge crowds, massive interest. Positive vibes coming from county grounds the country over.
Between League action in the last round of the football as well as hurling’s quarter-finals and promotion/relegation deciders, the crying shame is that we won’t get a weekend like it for the rest of the summer. Certainly, not with so much at stake for so many teams at the same time.
There is so much talk now of the training and commitment at intercounty level – well, the tide is turning in favour of more matches. The attendances showed that there is an appetite amongst the public. Hurling is a great product now and people want to see more of the great players. Not them going into hibernation for a season-defining single outing in a provincial Championship.
Maybe it’s because of that all-ornothing mentality with so much hinging on the first Championship game, that the same fear factor doesn’t exist in the spring in the League. Players seem to be able to express themselves with less of an emphasis on defensive set-ups.
So why not replicate that during the summer? When it comes to the Championship, there is a reluctance to change – the Leinster and Munster finals are a big part of tradition. Something else that must be considered is a commercial fear factor where Croke Park are obviously reluctant to tinker with a product that delivers a solid bottom line.
I think a new Championship format for hurling would reinvigorate the whole thing. I was one of the 8,000 or so in Tullamore last weekend. All-Ireland champions Tipperary coming to town was one reason why they came in their droves – if last Sunday could be repeated in summer, it would be incredible.
I like the Champions League format previously outlined in this paper with the top 10 counties split into two groups of five and a third group of developing counties which funnels in to the All-Ireland series.
Just imagine the excitement it would generate with all teams out the one weekend – it really could transform the summer. I know from sitting on the Hurling 2020 committee that there is a political element to any proposed change – sometimes it’s not what you think is best that is put forward, but what you can get through.
I think the mood is changing to the extent that people now want the best sort of change. It’s certainly worth an experiment.
That brings me back to the expectation on players’ shoulders. So much money is being generated via their efforts on the field. So much pressure is being put on them by managers who have huge backroom teams, training camps, fitness programmes – all the things put in place in an attempt to deliver success.
But we are still ignoring the elephant in the room: all of this is being done on the back of amateur players.
Take Leinster rugby as a comparison where the players are well paid to pay, but rest and recuperation is also built in to their day. The GAA has all the professional demands without any of the money. It’s really concerning that the player is a commodity in all of this – a bit part when it comes to the big picture.
I know the top names are doing okay out of the game and in terms of mileage, nutrition or gear, the players are being well looked after.
But in a generation’s time, I think we’ll find a lot of damage has been done. Have players the ability to develop a career while playing at the top level? Or a balanced lifestyle? It’s frightening to see the commitment required, from minor up. Where does it leave their relationship with their club?
A games-based model during the summer would place them at the heart of it.
Look at those long gaps now before the Championship starts, the relentless cycle of training now for that date that’s out there.
Of course, the upside is that players are fit, healthy, eating well – all the things that go with inter-county. But all that pressure for one day – it just shows that the system is not fit for purpose any more.
The knock out will still come at a later date.
Time then to liberate the players.