McCarthy: Vaccines vital to return of GAA crowds
NEW GAA president Larry McCarthy has said he is open to crowds returning to Gaelic games stadia if a workable vaccine passport system is agreed as part of the re-opening of society. In an interview on Red FM’s Big Red Bench, the Cork native admitted that he would love to see supporters return to games as the GAA prepare to publish a calendar for the year ahead later this week. ‘We’d be happy to see anybody in the stadium. But it depends on what we’re allowed do. I don’t know how you’d manage that either,’ McCarthy said. ‘I don’t know have we got a vaccination passport — if that is something that has been created. I’ve seen something along those lines in the travel business. But how do you identify whether somebody has been vaccinated or not? It would probably be difficult to implement. ‘But if we’re allowed do it, we’ll do it. We’ll find a way.’
Associations across the world have made attempts to facilitate the return of fans in recent times. In the US, the NFL invited 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers to be among the 22,000 fans at Super Bowl LV in February. The GAA’s need to bring back
supporters is emphasised by a €34million deficit for 2020. And while the winter All-Ireland Championships provided a lift to supporters across the board, there was no escaping the eerie atmosphere with the games taking place in empty grounds.
‘They’ve been very, very strange,’ McCarthy said, yesterday.
‘Empty stadiums, empty Páirc Uí Chaoimhs, empty Croke Parks, empty Limericks — it’s not what we’re about. Even if you do pipe in the noise, it still doesn’t make it. It absolutely doesn’t. The whole camaraderie of going — half the enjoyment of going to matches is the camaraderie and the socialisation around it. I’m not underestimating what happens out on the field but it’s the buzz of being in a large crowd at events and we clearly all miss that. Clearly miss it for clubs games as well.’
With the latest Government roadmap allowing for the return of inter-county training from April 19, before club gates reopen from April 26 for non-contact training up to under-18 level, he admitted that he never imagined taking up the role of president under the current conditions.
‘In my wildest dreams, not would I ever have thought that we’d be in the situation where we wouldn’t be playing games. But last Tuesday evening and the announcement by the Government that we’re going to be back on the 26th, that the kids are going to be back on the 26th, was the best announcement we’ve heard in a long, long time. It’s great to get some fun back into clubs. Get games started at least.
‘We can do this. We’ve done it before. We’ll continue to do it well. Kids will be fine. I just hope to God parents don’t assemble too much at the pitch gate or the field gate or outside the clubhouse and stuff like that and things go slightly awry on us. But I’m sure they won’t. When we’ve a record of doing this and we’ve done it well last year and we’ll do it well again. That’s going to bring a great deal of relief to a lot of people, not least those parents who need to be de-stressed a bit by having their kids out running around the place.’
He insisted that the controversy involving members of the Dublin senior football team breaking the existing training ban — plus the 12-week ban issued to manager Dessie Farrell by the Dublin County Board — would not jeopardise the imminent return to inter-county training on April 19.
A second incident though could do just that.
‘I don’t think honestly this particular incident is going to impact it,’ he told presenter Valerie Wheeler when asked about the breach that made front-page national headlines.
‘Now, if there was another one? Oh Lord, that would make it very, very difficult for us.
‘I’m reasonably confident at the moment that we will get back, assuming that the numbers stay where they are and that the public health authorities don’t decide that they’ve gone awry over Easter or anything like that.
‘All going well, fingers crossed, I think we’re in a good place.’
He wouldn’t be drawn as to whether further punishment is to come for Dublin.
‘Coiste Bainistí had an emergency meeting and we appointed an investigation committee to look into it, as we did with the Cork incident and Down incident earlier in the year so we’re adopting the exact same procedures.’
McCarthy also emphasised that a return for all club players is his priority, as much as trying to fit a meaningful National League and All-Ireland Championship programme into a tight summer window.
‘We will have a comprehensive games programme. We’re working on it at the moment. It’s going to be concertinaed a little bit so it’s going to make it a little more difficult and a little bit more challenging. But I’ve no doubt we’ll do it, with the help of the counties and with the help of the players we will have a programme of games right through the summer.
‘But the more important element of that is I just hope to God we get the clubs up and operating. The 98 per cent is more important than the two per cent but the two per cent are our shop window. The ideal here is to get the clubs back as quickly as is feasible.’
Asked if he wanted a National League, a Championship, and club action, he replied: ‘I’d love to see the clubs back now but at the moment we only have permission
“We all clearly
miss being in large crowds”
“The ideal is to
get the clubs back quickly”
obviously for the inter-county stuff to come back, so we’ll run a League and we’ll run a Championship and see where we go after that.’
While he stated that he finds it hard to see a full amalgamation of the GAA with the LGFA and Camogie Association as part of the One Club model during his three-year term, he is confident it will happen in the longer term.
‘In terms of conversations with the Camogie Association and LGFA, we cooperate on so many levels as it is. I think there’s 12 central committees of which the LGFA and Camogie Association are members because they are of interest in all the topics. And that will continue.
‘There is a memorandum of understanding to be signed shortly between the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association. There was one just finished up at start of February.
‘We’ll talk of progressing the whole notion of the One Club model. It won’t happen in my time because it is too big a big project. But slowly but surely we’ll grow the associations together.’