May GAA return a positive - but only for the chosen few

IT’S COMFORTING to finally have some dates to work towards and look forward to, following the release of the updated GAA calendar for 2021 last Thursday. In the circumstances, some may deem it churlish to allow any negativity to enter the conversation, but I do feel that a few hard truths still need to be pointed out.

The only real beneficiaries of this announcement are the players and mentors directly involved in the inter-county scene, along with the small cohort of folk – reporters included – who will be permitted to attend the games.

I’m sure many readers will be delighted to have some live GAA games back on their television screens, but in truth there’s no substitute for being there.

And if, like me, you would choose the club scene over inter-county any day of the week, then it’s going to be a long wait before that particular craving is satisfied.

I fully appreciate that the programme is largely dictated by the restrictions in place, and it was impossible to come up with a perfect plan given that one-third of the year has been completely lost to games.

Still, I can’t help thinking that it was better last year, when club fare was permitted to go first and the GAA did the right thing by slotting it in before inter-county.

That ensured the majority were put before the minority, but it’s the exact opposite this time around – although in the circumstances that scenario appeared impossible to avoid.

And it’s not just the club GAA players who are left in limbo. If you’re a hurler who doesn’t play football, you won’t have lined out in a game since last August and will likely be waiting the full twelve months and possibly longer for your next championship outing.

At least you know something is coming down the line, but contrast that with those involved in the local soccer scene at present.

Denis Hennessy, Chairman of the Wexford League, confirmed the inevitable on Sunday when he announced the cancellation of the 2020-2021 season due to the ongoing Level 5 restrictions.

Clubs were thanked for their ‘patience and understanding at this most difficult time for everyone involved in the game’, before the long-serving official urged all those reading his message to continue following the guidelines that are currently in place.

Once restrictions are eased back to Level 2, Hennessy said the Wexford League will ‘look at all their options for getting clubs back playing competitive games as soon as possible’.

One carrot thrown out was the possibility of ‘running some form of competition this summer’, and certainly this would be warmly embraced by the players at this stage.

Indeed, a direct clash between soccer and club GAA might even be avoided, particularly if the Wexford League was in a position to get things up and running in the month of June.

It must be extremely frustrating for sports bodies to have their hands tied, even though they’re the worst in the world if they happen to pass a remark that might be perceived as being in any way anti-Nphet, the new unelected super-power in this country.

I wasn’t surprised when that body tried to pour cold water on the revelation made by a journalist last week, that just one in every one thousand of confirmed Covid-19 cases (0.1 per cent) could be directly linked to an outdoor activity.

That figure didn’t surprise me in the slightest, writing as someone who has been lucky enough to be out and about at multiple sports fixtures since the first lifting of restrictions last July.

One of the main spokesmen for the HSE continues to bang on about risks associated with dressing-room use, seemingly oblivious to the fact that no team has used them for more than a year.

The players arrive separately, and tog out socially distanced in the stand, or the pitch surrounds at any of the smaller venues.

Given the lack of understanding displayed by this person occupying a position of considerable importance, it begs the obvious question: Do these people really know what they are doing?

May 8/9 is a positive, of course it is, but the majority of sports teams will still be lying idle for a considerable time to come.