GAELIC GAMES:ONE OF the key influences on the GAA's decision to establish a close season for intercounty activity has expressed pessimism at the prospects of its successful enforcement.

Two years ago Dr Gerry McEntee, former Meath All-Ireland winner, made a presentation to the GAA’s Task Force on Player Burnout in which he detailed the dramatic rise in groin injuries among young Gaelic games players. The presentation was significantly persuasive in support of the task-force proposals to counter burnout, as a result of which the close season has been introduced. This week sees the start of this year’s close season but McEntee believes it’s not having its intended effect.

“I don’t want to be a prophet of doom but I don’t see it working. County teams want to get players conditioned before the league starts so they’re going to be having a couple of sessions a week and if they’re barred from having outdoor collective sessions the easy way around that is to have indoor individual or group sessions. That’s the way it’s going to be because county teams do want to be prepared so I don’t think the problem is going to go away and I don’t think the problem is solved.”

Although individual training is not forbidden there is strong anecdotal evidence that collective sessions took place last season during the November-December period and this matter was raised by provincial secretaries in both Connacht and Munster.

Last week the GAA’s director general Páraic Duffy emphasised Croke Park would crack down on counties trying to circumvent the close season, saying there would be “severe financial penalties”.

“Our intention this time is that if counties try to go around it we will meet that head on. Chairmen and secretaries have been made aware of that, counties got a document telling them very clearly.”

According to McEntee the problem is the age group he identified as having the highest increasing vulnerability to groin injury (males aged 15-21) is still not being protected. One of the main recommendations of the task force two years ago was the minor and under-21 championships be amalgamated and that was defeated at a subsequent special congress.

“I am pessimistic about the age group that it was particularly geared towards,” says McEntee, who wasn’t a member of the task force. “That problem is not gone away. It is the 17-18 to 21-22 age group that as we speak is training with their universities and if they’re good enough for a county panel they’re probably being asked to do gym sessions.”

Another contribution to the debate came last week with the comments by Mike McGurn, the former Ireland rugby team strength and conditioning coach who is now attached to the Armagh footballers and who was critical of the closed season, saying it limited pre-season training and questioning the appropriateness of individual gym sessions.

“Your pre-season is time where you keep the players strong, fit and healthy and prevent them getting injured. The more money you put in the bank in pre-season, the more you take out during the season. I’m not a big believer in giving a fella sessions and saying, ‘go do that there’. As a fitness coach, you want intensity and the safety aspect of it, but also technique. Giving guys programmes can be more dangerous than helpful,” he said.

McEntee says there is merit in the arguments: “I’m no expert on physical training and Mike McGurn knows exactly what he’s talking about. It’s very hard to drive yourself and reach the sort of intensity you can reach in a group setting. Training slowly over two hours is of very little benefit so I can see where he’s coming from.

“He also suggested that colleges and counties should sit down and say to players, ‘look, you’re already doing a session or two every week with the university – there’s no need for you to come down; that’s where common sense comes into it. I think that is the best you could hope to achieve, that counties and universities sit down and consider the player’s welfare.

“We’re either talking about fellas having a complete break or we’re not. The idea that they are taking a break or a rest period is wrong because it isn’t happening. If these sessions are short and sharp and enjoyable, you could say ‘what is the problem?’

“I think the bigger problem after Christmas and even before it is that the third-level colleges now have a free rein from October to the end of February and naturally because that’s when their competitions take place they want their players for that period of time.”

Although pessimistic about the impact of the regulation close season, McEntee isn’t sure what might be a better solution. “I don’t know, unless you run all competitions concurrently and then have a complete closed season. Otherwise there are the same key players aged 17-18 to 21-22 wanted by everybody: by their club, their county – under-21 and senior – and their university. To be honest, I doubt if there’s a close-season or an off-season for anybody.”