Tom Ryan: GAA training camps a joke
BETTER late than never, the decision this week to bring the shutters on down is to be welcomed. The truth is that it should have happened earlier, a point I made forcibly on local radio last week, when the public concern was palpable. However, I always believed that the GAA would step up when required, which is more than can be said about the horseracing industry. It is nothing short of a disgrace that Cheltenham was allowed to proceed this week, a display of recklessness I believe the industry will never be forgiven for. Worse, they insist, along with the greyhound industry – two bodies heavily subsidised by the state – in holding behind-closeddoor meets to ensure that the gambling industry does not suffer.
It was also a display of selfishness by those who travelled from this country, who were happy to wager the health of their fellow citizens as long as they could have a good time. We always hear about how our sports’ followers are our greatest ambassadors – something we were reminded of in the excellent Boys in Green documentary – but those who absolved all personal responsibility this week in travelling over should be asked to self-isolate, if only to reflect on their shame.
The consequences for the GAA’s season is not yet known, but the possibility of a return to a knockout championship – something I havelongargued for but not in these circumstances – could be on the cards.
As for the league, well I don’t think it took the arrival of a virus to put that into quarantine, with the apathy towards the competition best illustrated by Tipperary and Waterford last week.
Tipperary’s intent was compromised by the fact that they were going on a tour of their own, heading to Portugal this week for a warm weather training camp.
Had they won, they assured us they would have been back in the country in time for this weekend’s quarter-final.
Conveniently that will not be an issue for them and last Sunday’s defeat ensured that they can add their week away to the other eight weeks that they will now spend preparing for a game that may or may not take place. Those of you baffled by their second-half implosion, which saw the All-Ireland champions cough up an eight-point lead, might do well to consider that their minds might have been elsewhere. As they traipsed off at half-time to take shelter from the wind and rain, mentally they were already checking out their seats. In truth, it was probably more of a case of them checking in. And by the time they emerged for the second-half, in their minds they had already gone through security, had dawdled past the duty free and had taken their seats on the plane. By the time Galway had reeled them in in the final quarter, they were already lathered in sun cream and splayed out on pool loungers. It was just that their bodies had not yet joined them. Trust me, I am only half joking. How can any team be serious about treating a competition seriously when their focus is already on training in camp for a competition which is months away, and if the Coronavirus gets its way, possibly a year down the road. Tipperary are not the only ones to splash on the sun lotion; Limerick have also been and gone – I make it their third overseas trip in a matter of months – but it is the timing of their trip that really grates with me, right in the middle of the business end of a national competition.
I accept their hand is forced to a point by the fact that overseas trips are not allowed next month, but why bother at all?
I believe they are wrong on so many levels. It is a show of decadence by big counties who are blessed with sponsors with deep pockets, while others are barely able to afford the cones to put out on a muddied field.
It is also wrong on players who are already being crucified with the levels of commitment being demanded on them.
The truth is they will hardly get much time on the sun loungers as they sweat it out under the sun.
It is not just the training, these camps are intrusive on players and on their families.
I assume working members of these panels will have to take a week’s annual leave to go on these trips, a week’s less leisure time to spend with family.
And, on top of all that, it makes a mockery of the league.
There was a time when I felt sorry for Allianz – the long-time sponsors of the competition – but they have been taken down this road before and still they have come back for more.
In treating the league with such disdain, it has also cheapened the brand of all those who are associated with it.
Mind, Waterford were no better last Saturday evening. Over 9,000 people paid into the Gaelic Grounds to watch their game against Limerick and, while the home supporters were pleased with their team’s performance, they were cheated in terms of seeing a proper game of hurling.
Liam Cahill made nine changes, only two of which were enforced, from the team that had played Galway.
As a result, they looked more like a mini-bus load of kids dropped off for a run in the community games than a team serious about playing an intercounty hurling game.
Waterford are in no position to be changing half a team when facing opposition of this calibre, but then they were already assured of their place in the quarter-final, and these days teams have to be bothered to actually go out and win a game.
It would have been easier and cheaper on everyone last weekend if, instead of those games going ahead, the GAA invited each county to declare whether they were interested in winning the game or not.
And had Waterford and Tipperary answered truthfully, they would have saved everyone from being exposed to the virus that is tedium.
Teams have to be bothered to actually go out and win games