Leinster GAA secretary Michael Reynolds has criticised attitudes to under-21 championships and suggests there is hypocrisy on the issue of player retention. There is a tendency, he writes in his report to next Monday's virtual annual convention, to cram age-grade fixtures into short periods and ultimately to prioritise senior matches for young players over their own age grade.
“Too often in the past many of us have talked about the importance of, for instance the under-21 grade as a means of keeping players involved. Yet more often than not we run this competition on a knock-out basis shoe-horned into the tail end of the year when all other competitions have been completed.
“Yes, the better few players leaving underage will have football and/or hurling with adult teams. But what is each county doing for the rest? All players must play at their own age group for starters; otherwise we are wasting good energy.
“As an organisation we promote players’ development but when it comes to this you might question if we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Recently, in a group discussion around the regularity and certainty of games for this critical age bracket, the suggestion of games on a midweek evening in the spring or summer was met with hesitation.
“This was due in no small part to the belief that players would not be released to partake in these games by club managers.”
Reynolds goes on to call for a change in culture when it comes to rescheduling underage fixtures for the sole purpose of accommodating senior club teams. He also refers to the gains made in fixture planning by the lowering of the minor grade to under-17, which has brought the cohort outside of senior eligibility.
“This mindset is one that must change if we are ever to truly address our issues around fixtures. The culture of looking for any conceivable way to postpone or cancel games must shift to that of one where we are looking for games. There are times I wonder at the various comments regarding player retention.
“It is an extremely topical discussion but not always discussed within the proper context. Young players (boys and girls) as they move through their teenage years make many choices in their lives including their sporting future.
“For the many who remain (and there are now more than ever) what is each county unit providing for them? The past two years have been difficult for all. All our counties are to be commended for the games programmes that they have completed not knowing from one week to the next (or rather one phone call to the next) what is around the corner.
“With that in mind I trust, beginning this winter all units with the assistance of fixtures analysts will develop a fixtures programme for all underage players with particular attention to the later teens, early twenties cohort.”
He also drew attention to the difficulty of recruiting referees and called on county boards to take a stand against abuse of match officials, which he said is leading to a shortage of personnel.
“Trying to get younger referees involved is proving very difficult, particularly in hurling. Obviously, the continuing abuse (verbal, physical and online) targeted at referees is a huge problem.
“We need county committees to take a stand against this abuse. Only recently we have seen two intercounty referees verbally and physically abused and if we do not stop/punish the perpetrators, our games will continue to suffer.”
