Mortimer may miss entire 2011 season

GAELIC GAMES:CONOR MORTIMER is in danger of missing Mayo's entire 2011 season after revealing knee surgery will keep him out of football until August.

The 27-year-old corner forward will go under the knife at the Santry sports clinic on Friday week to cure a long-standing knee problem and is facing up to a six-month lay-off.

The former All Star, who is studying for a masters in sports management at University of Ulster Jordanstown, met surgeon Ray Moran last Friday to discuss his options.

For the last seven years, Mortimer has been playing without a cruciate ligament in his left knee but after recent flare-ups, he has been left with no alternative but to undergo surgery.

“Ray was amazed that I got away with it for a few years,” said Mortimer. “He told me this is the way it is, you have to get it done. And it will give me an extra couple of years on my career.”

Meanwhile, the GAA have no plans to release the discussion document on amateur status, currently before the management committee.

Prepared by the director general, Páraic Duffy, on foot of an undertaking he gave last year’s congress, the paper was presented to the committee last November and has been discussed but according to association president Christy Cooney there are no plans to circulate it to the wider membership.

“It’s under discussion,” he said yesterday. “Coiste Bainistí­ (management committee) will decide in due course what’s to happen, if anything is to happen.

“There’s no plan to release it currently, but it’s ongoing and we’ve had two lengthy discussions at Coiste Bainistí. As you’re all aware it’s a most challenging area and whatever we decide to do at the end of the day we’ve got to make sure it’s right and in the best interests of the association, not just at county level but at club level. If it takes a number of months or longer to get it right, that’s what it takes.

“It’s taken us eight to 10 years to come to a conclusion on agreement with the GPA (Gaelic Players Association) and this is an area where we need to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Again it comes down to the responsibility of county officers and county chairmen to uphold the policy of the association. If that were to happen we wouldn’t be discussing payment to managers.”

Asked did he intend that the document be discussed anywhere other than at meetings of the management committee, the president said the fate of the document was still under consideration.

“That’s where it is currently and we’ll decide what is the best way we can deal with it and what structures we set up to deal with it and how the outcome can be best managed.”

Cooney was also asked about the situation concerning the close-season training ban on collective preparation by intercounty teams, which has been criticised by a number of managers. There have been a number of allegations the prohibition has been breached, a point addressed by the president.

“It would be unfair of me to say that I’m 100 per cent happy. We know the majority of counties have adhered to it. We hear rumours that other counties aren’t adhering to it.

“We’d like greater commitment from the counties, particularly our county officers because at the end of the day they put the managers in place and they have to ensure that managers and players observe the rules regulations in place.

“There’s a rule there and we want it adhered to but if change is made we’ll also respect that.

“I’m not going to say here that some counties haven’t broken it but it’s a very different situation to hear that it’s been broken and to prove it. We have to ensure that counties adhere to it and the bottom line is that it’s down to counties themselves.”