‘This is the lowest of the low in rumours’
COUNTY BOARD CHIEF BLASTS RUMOUR MILL THAT KERRY PLAYERS ARE TRAINING AT SECRET VENUES
KERRY County Board Chairman Tim Murphy has described as ‘scurrilous rumour’ reports that members of the Kerry senior football panel are meeting in groups of six for private training sessions at venues around the county.
With the whole country in lockdown, and the future of this year’s GAA championship still in the balance, inter-county players are trying hard to maintain concentration, physical fitness and their skill-sets in a climate of growing uncertainty.
However, any notion that Kerry players have ignored social-distancing protocols by training in secret locations is being firmly denied by the Kerry GAA Committee.
“This is a complete and utter fabrication and lies of the highest order. It is a scurrilous rumour, that is all,” said Kerry GAA Chairman, Tim Murphy.
He explained that while Kerry players are training in groups of six, they are doing so from home and through ‘Zoom’ sessions with the Kerry team’s Strength & Conditioning Coach, who arranges fitness and nutritional programs for individual players.
Moreover, Mr Murphy added that he could not confirm if speculation that three members of the Kerry senior panel had tested positive for COVID-19 is true.
“I have no idea if they have and I can’t confirm nor deny anything in relation to whether people have tested positive for the virus or not,” he said.
“For someone to say that this is happening in the circumstances we’re living in; knowing the public health risk; knowing the impact it would have on the wider public and individual players and the team is wrong.
“I can tell you that whoever is saying that this is happening is not doing any justice to themselves or anyone else in the county.”
Mr Murphy added that by ‘meddling’ and spreading rumour in the current, stressful environment - where health is a priority and people’s lives are at risk - is the ‘ lowest of the low’.
“These are untruths that could have a detrimental affect on people’s lives,” he said.
“Do the people spreading these rumours even realise what is going on?
“We’re totally refuting this and we’re shocked, as an organisation, that people could feed this sort of information to the public.”