Inside: Confusion reigns as ‘plan’ leaves GAA without clarity
AS an exercise in confusion, a Government that has been consistently on the podium for miscommunication over the last few months reached gold medal standard with its messaging around sport in its latest evaluation of the future steps the country will take.
In the main overview of ‘Covid-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Path Ahead’, a new document that sets out a plan, without clear dates, for what’s ahead, it made it clear that there would be no change to sport with professional, elite sports, horse racing, greyhound racing and approved equestrian events only permitted to continue behind closed doors. No other matches are permitted, as per the status quo.
But delve into the illustration that sets out the various levels as part of the new plan for the road ahead and it paints a different picture, one at odds with what the overview suggests.
In the Level 5 column, no sport is allowed for. Instead, professional, elite and horseracing (not greyhound racing or approved equestrian events here) can be played behind closed doors in Level 4. And so too can inter-county Gaelic games.
Taken literally, with Level 5 in place until April 5 at least, that would mean no Six Nations international with England in March, no PRO14, no domestic racing in the week leading up to Cheltenham and no resumption of the League of Ireland towards the end of March.
Of course, that isn’t the case. And when asked about the anomaly at the press briefing in Government Buildings, Taoiseach Micheál Martin suggested it was a “transmission” error.
A ‘copy and paste’ error perhaps, given that the original Level 5 plans last summer did not provide for any sport either, a situation that evolved.
But significantly, or maybe not, inter-county GAA games were bracketed with the professional, elite sports again in this part of the plan, giving hope that from March 5 inter-county training could get under way with a four- to five-week pre-season before league games in early to mid-April.
But that’s not the case and the original projection, as advised by the Minister for State for Sport Jack Chambers two weeks ago when it became clear that inter-county games were no longer bracketed with professional and elite sports that prompted the GAA’s Covid Advisory Group to suspend all activity until April 5, holds firm.
But from then on the prospect of the return of inter-county activity looks better, so too the resumption of non-contact training.
The Taoiseach spoke at the briefing last night about “looking at sports activities” towards the end of March, referencing people’s mental health and well-being.
But there will be huge
disappointment that underage training won’t be returning before then, despite the gathering momentum behind it among the public as a physical outlet for kids of a certain age.
Desire
The desire to ‘keep mobility low’ in the coming weeks has supplanted any provision for this.
If the various plans do have credence, then Level 4 will allow for non-contact training in groups of 15 while Level 3 will permit senior club championships but will not allow for any other grade. Those games are catered for in Level 2. That leaves the outstanding 2020 minor and U-20 championships some way off yet, presumably well into the summer before they can be completed.
It leaves the GAA no closer to devising a new plan for the year and the clarity that so many players, managers and even parents desire, can’t be given. For now, there can only be assumptions.
The Taoiseach intimated that by the end of March they will be in a position to give better indicators for the future and, at best, only then will the GAA be in a position to put something concrete down on paper.
But the prospect of an inter-county season with league first and then championship running through until August, followed by a club season, has been removed.
The choice now remains to spike the league and move straight to championship or split the intercounty season either side of a designated 14-15-week club window over the summer.
Choice now to spike the league or split the inter-county season