GAA must show leadership on abolition of preseason competitions, GPA say

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has called on the GAA to “start showing leadership” in abolishing the preseason competitions in the four provinces. The GPA’s AGM on Saturday passed a motion calling for their abolition.

At a media briefing in Dublin on Monday, attended by the association’s chief executive Tom Parsons, its head of finance and operations Ciarán Barr and equality manager Gemma Begley, the case for removing the competitions was amplified.

“Unfortunately, they’re not listening to the players on this matter and that’s the challenge we have,” Parsons said. “If you continuously don’t listen to the players, the players then start to plan and organise and then the changes happen through conflict. So we don’t want to get to that point. Something needs to change.”

The competitions take place in January in the lead-up to the start of the main season with the National League. Intercounty training is due to recommence on November 24th, although Parsons accepted that some counties are breaking that embargo.

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The GAA’s central council has already confirmed these competitions, such as the FBD (Connacht football), the Dr McKenna Cup (Ulster football) and the Walsh Cup (Leinster hurling), as part of the prospective 2024 fixtures calendar.

Asked might players and teams withdraw from the competitions, Parsons did not rule it out.

“I feel if the [GPA county] reps decide collectively that we need to influence change, they might,” Parsons said.

“A number of players might decide to opt out. It comes back then to showing frustration on the ground. We hope this is listened to and that the player welfare committee in the GAA starts showing leadership. We need to listen to players on this.”

Barr interjected: “Look what has changed since the McKenna Cup has started. We’ve got a split season. We’ve got different competitions in hurling and football that have been introduced. We had the Super 8s and whatever. All these things have changed dramatically and yet there is still this intercounty provincial competition in the middle of winter ... is that the right preseason to have?

“The answer is no. The sports science would tell you it’s an absolute mad thing to do. To be up in that level of intensity in January, it’s crazy. Change the mindset, what are we actually dealing with here and it’s ultimately player welfare.”

Parsons accepted that the issue was more acute in football because of the new importance of the National League in determining championship prospects.

“I agree it is more prevalent in football but you have to question their value. The league needs to be prepared for,” Parsons said.

“The S&C (strength and conditioning) coaches need to design preseason training and that’s very hard when you have a preseason competition that you have no control over and is in the public eye. So that if a new manager comes in for a first fixture on January 1st, he wants to get a result. The ripple effect is teams with activity around Christmas or before November 24th.

“The preseason competitions make no sense in a split season. You can’t keep everything that was there over nine months and squeeze it into six months.

“A McKenna Cup game in January is a very competitive game. You probably want six to eight weeks of activity to be ready for that game so that’s the challenge.”

He also spoke about the pressures on third-level players, whose major competitions also take place in January and perennially feature incidents where some are forced to play intense schedules.

“We still have multiple eligibility. We still have students who are playing Sigerson or Fitzgibbon, who are then being exposed or ‘trialled’ in preseason competitions and then are given their first game in the first round of the National League.

“I guarantee you if this is not implemented, this February we are going to have headlines of another player who has played two games within 24 or 48 hours – player breakdown, player burnout, player load, multiple eligibility.”

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The GPA also underlined that it is preparing for action in the campaign to introduce a players’ charter in the women’s games.

Last summer women footballers and camogie players suspended protest actions after an agreement that a charter would be introduced in time for 2024.

“The conversation on Saturday was the players are now starting to plan and organise. The closer we get to the return to training without confirmation of funding flows and a charter, the more players are feeling that this isn’t going to be implemented.

“They are starting to prepare now and have instructed us now to start getting the reps and captains together again in terms of 2024. I would say there is a risk of an increase in activity now in 2024 if there is not charter in place.”