THE LITTLE PEOPLE…Club players seem to be well down the pecking order when it comes to Croke Park’s priorities.
There has to be great admiration shown for our own Competitions Control Committee (CCC) here in Fermanagh. We have seen the implementation of some radical changes in the fixtures calendar for both senior and junior players over the past few seasons.
The year ahead sees yet more change with the championship now set to take place after the 18 rounds of league football have been completed.
This columnist does not agree with every change, but I appreciate the hard work and genuine consultation with clubs that was undertaken by the CCC.
Too often in the GAA we see people who control the game, be it at county board, provincial and national level, simply ignore the wishes of those they serve. Our CCC cannot be accused of that. So, a generous hat tip and well done to them.
On the changes this year I have to admit to being unsure as to whether or not leaving the championship to after the league is a wise move. Obviously there are merits in that there should be less dead rubbers now due to the fact every team will be sharpening their tools in an attempt to be primed and ready for the championships.
I do foresee problems though, especially if Fermanagh go on any sort of run deep into the play-offs, but I suppose those hurdles are something that need to be crossed when they arise. The job the CCC do is second in difficulty only to that of the lowly club manager – but then I would say that!
In seriousness though the one member of the GAA that I feel most sympathy for in the present climate is the club player. I have spoken about this before but the recent changes to our season allows some practical examples to be drawn to demonstrate the horrible position they find themselves in.
Obviously the GAA has a balancing act to find between club and county action. But I have a firm belief that every decision we make should be predicated on the unwavering principal that we never ask the club player to do something that we would not ask a county player to do. If we start from that simple democratic position then we will find that we will have to make sacrifices in other areas and I will come to these in just a few paragraphs.
So, let us take for example double fixtures on a Friday and Sunday. Is this fair? Would a county team be asked to play a league game on a Friday and another one less than 48 hours later on a Sunday. And perhaps even a game sandwiched in between, like so many players here in Fermanagh do who represent both their senior and junior teams. No. The simple answer is that they would never be asked to do that.
Do we consider it fair that club players are getting off work early on a Friday to drive like Lewis Hamilton down the road to jump out of the car and play a game?
Many of our club players are of an older vintage. They have been playing for the best part of 15 to 20 years and these players need more rest, more recuperation and more pre-game warm up and stretching than their team-mates yet we expect them to put their bodies through what I believe is an unacceptable amount of work in less than 48 hours.
These double round of fixtures by the way are not the fault of our CCC. They have to include some in the fixture list – I hope not too many – in order to get the games played. The fault for the frankly dangerous schedule that the club player is expected to adhere to lies firmly and squarely at the door of Croke Park.
It annoys me so much when I hear our Director General and President say that club fixtures are an issue for the local county to solve and nothing to do with Croke Park. What a shameful passing of the buck when you consider that the nonsensical nine month inter-county season, imposed upon county teams by Croke Park, is at the root of every problem local county boards are facing.
Would club players be asked to flog their bodies if County CCCs had three extra months to fit the season in to? I doubt they would.
The nine month inter county season is not up for debate though. It is seen as a necessity by those in charge in order to elongate exposure of our games in the national press. But a shortened season would create as much if not more interest in my opinion. The current system is stale with most GAA fans not really getting into championship mode until the last 12 of the All-Ireland in late July.
We are not allowed however, by the GAA hierarchy, to debate the direction of the Association. Evidence of such is seen in the knocking back of the Clare motion to Congress to deal with the consequences of the Sky Sports deal. This topic won’t be discussed by the grassroots. It is not the first time debate has been stifled and black balled and it won’t be the last.
The gap between the Association at grassroots level and at the top commercial end is quite worrying. And, as it continues to grow it will be the ordinary club player who will continue to suffer.
