GAELIC GAMES/ CORK HURLING DISPUTE: IT WASN'T without irony that captain John Gardiner went on RTÉ's Primetimelast night to explain why he and his fellow Cork hurlers are refusing to go back to work, so to speak, immediately after another report on unemployment.

Gardiner was adamant the players needed to take their stand against the Cork County Board and continue to refuse to play under recently reappointed manager Gerald McCarthy- starting with a scheduled anniversary match for St Colman's College in a two weeks time.

"Well at the moment we won't be putting ourselves for selection," Gardiner confirmed. "We feel so strongly about this thing we do want to get on with it, get back playing with Cork as soon as possible, and want to go down every avenue to solve this problem."

But if this meant never playing for Cork again then Gardiner was equally adamant the players would maintain their stand:

"That's the stark reality of the thing. We feel so badly about this, so strongly about it, that we are willing to walk away from our own careers, give them all up, especially for the sake of the younger players coming on, because we feel we need to take a stand against the board now, and hopefully go on so that all things will change."

The captain also criticised both the county board and McCarthy for making statements through the media - even though the players were clearly pursuing thissame route of communication, especially with yesterday's exclusive statement to the Cork-based Irish Examiner, instead of sitting down with the relevant parties to try to reach some solution.

"All we see is ourselves having a bit of backbone," he said, "and are just going to stand up against the county board, and for what we believe in.

"All we want to do is play hurling, win things for Cork, give the supporters all they deserve, but unfortunately, because of the actions of the board, we find ourselves in this position time and time again.

"The players feel aggrieved by the way the manager and the county board have clarified their position through the press. We never said we wanted to pick or veto the manager. In fact, we never even wanted a process where we were two of a seven-man committee. What we wanted was that the views of the players be heard by the committee.

"Our two representatives came across very well, and expressed explicitly the views regarding Gerald McCarthy's appointment to the committee, and they totally ignored us. We feel aggrieved by that, and they went ahead and appointed Gerald anyway."

In their statement yesterday to the Examiner, the players accused the county board of holding a "vendetta" against them, although Gardiner appeared to back down on this:

"Vendetta was probably an unfortunate use of words. It's obvious to see that some people think it's personal, especially players, because throughout their careers they've been involved in three strikes already, and involved with the same peopleand the county board have been on the other side of the three strikes.

"But this goes back to 2002, when players first stood up against the county board. The county board felt they lost power back then, and ultimately, every chance they got since then, they came back to get ultimate power.

"Ironically, it seems when they lost power, it was the best four years that Cork had on the hurling field, when the manager of the team seemed to have all the power."

Yet either McCarthy's job has become untenable, or the players' careers have; possibly even both. If the absurdity of the Cork hurling crisis couldn't have become any more despairing, it has now.