They may not be planting undercover agents in furze bushes on the Curragh or behind stone walls in Donegal, but the GAA will be pursuing any reports of such breaches, even if so far there has only been anecdotal evidence of county teams training in November and December.
“If we hear definitely of any teams breaking the ban we’ll certainly investigate it,” said Feargal McGill, the GAA’s Operations Manager. “We haven’t received any concrete information on it so far. But we’ve clearly set down that we’ll withhold elements of National League gate receipts if any county is blatantly disregarding it.”
“But it’s not about us chasing counties. It’s about team managers using their cop-on. All the scientific and medial evidence suggests players are better off having a break at this time of year. It’s good for them mentally and it’s good for them physically.”
Nevertheless, several county managers have spoken out against the collective training ban since its introduction, for the second year, on November 1st – although the majority of these are managers going into their first seasons in charge, and therefore at an apparent disadvantage over managers who have been in charge of teams for one year or more.
“We still believe that having a close season is a vital thing for the GAA,” added McGill. “It happens in every other sport all around the world. Players have to rest. They have to recover. We accept that the close season as it is probably isn’t perfect. Not all players are getting a break, and in third level colleges in particular, players probably aren’t getting a significant break.
“But nonetheless if there wasn’t a closed intercounty season they’d be getting far less of a break because they’d be trying to serve two masters. They’d be training for two teams at this time of the year. At least they’re only playing and training with one team at the moment.
“We know there have been opinions expressed from individual managers, and possibly from some players, over the past couple of weeks, but we’re intent on maintaining the close season. If counties want to tweak it, change the timing of it or whatever, they can do so at Congress.”
There is some evidence of managers getting around the November-December training ban, by breaking up their panels into smaller groups (as is reportedly happening with the Donegal footballers), or simply giving players individual training programmes to work on in their own time (as is happening with the Waterford hurlers). However, the GAA are happy to let this go, as long as managers are seen to be generally respectful of the collective ban.
“Players are entitled individual programmes, absolutely,” says McGill. “You’ve got a situation in a lot of counties in the west and south where you have people living in Dublin, and throughout the year they’re driving two or three hours to get to training and back. We don’t want that at this time of year.
“So plenty of individual players are training in gyms and that’s fine. We don’t expect them to stop altogether but at least they’re in control of what they’re doing themselves. And I believe the vast majority of counties are honouring the ban, and those who aren’t need to look at themselves.
“They need to take a common sense approach to it, as much as us going after them and punishing them, they need to use their own cop-on. It’s not going to help any player not to be having a rest at this time of year.”
It remains to be seen if there is enough objection to the training ban to generate a motion to Congress next April, either doing away with the ban altogether or having it reduced to perhaps only November.
However, the chances of the ban being extended to club training appear slim, given the limited amount of club activity at this time of the year anyway.
“The association has no proactive plans to change this at the moment,” added McGill.
“If managers are talking to county boards and have very strong opinions on this it’s up to them to bring motions to Congress. But I don’t believe it will ever extend to clubs.
“The way the fixture calendar is structured at the moment it’s just impossible, but in all fairness it’s a very small number of clubs that are active from mid-November to the end of the year. Only a fraction of clubs, really.”
Kelly criticises appointment of 'outsider' McEnaney:
IN A strongly-worded letter to a local newspaper, former Meath senior football team trainer and selector Seán Kelly has criticised the appointment of Séamus McEnaney as the new Royals’ manager.
“When the news came in last Wednesday night my heart sank a little. I have nothing against the man or his backroom team; however, I believe we sold something which is precious,” stated Kelly.
“The appointment of an outside manager is an admission that the coaching structures in Meath are not good enough but this is not supported by facts,” he remarked and added that the senior champions in Dublin, Louth and Cavan this year were all coached by Meath men.
Kelly makes the point that Eamonn O’Brien’s intercounty record is superior to that of his successor, saying: “The hand that steers the ship should know the territorial waters.”
The Dunderry clubman, who was one of the 13 nominated for the position but opted out because of other commitments, has expressed concerns that underage football in the county could suffer as a result of the large financial outlay to McEnaney and his assistants.
“We are selling part of our ethos, handing the keys of Tara to someone who has never lived there. It is no coincidence that Kerry, Kilkenny and Tyrone are sailed by captains who know their waters and are prepared to drown with their ship mates for a booty that is more precious than money,” Kelly added.
