GAA left with ground to make up after elite-sport exemption ended

Inside Track with John McIntyre

WELL, that was some communications balls-up! Since the turn of the year the GAA has been publicly signposting their plans for the year, but nobody in the Government or NPHET thought it worth their while to set the record straight with the country’s biggest sporting organisation . . . that inter-county matches or even training was no longer exempted from Level 5 Covid restrictions.

My word, it wasn’t as if the GAA was in complete hibernation since Christmas. Announcements had been made – and altered – in relation to the return of inter-county training and a calendar was drawn up for the year with the National Leagues originally scheduled to commence at the end of March.

Furthermore, it was in the public domain that the Tailteann Cup – a separate championship for Division Three and Four football teams – would have its inaugural staging in 2021, while a decision had been taken before Christmas that the inter county programme would be staged before the club championships this year . . . a reversal of what happened in 2020.

All of this attracted various forms of publicity and though the GAA had to push back the start of inter-county training on several occasions due to the big increase in Covid transmissions in late December, all the while nobody in the corridors of power in Croke Park was aware that any of these decisions were not theirs to make.

It beggars belief that the GAA wasn’t brought up to speed about their inter-county activity being no longer classified as an elite sport, with the result that nobody knows this week how the GAA season will evolve or when will it even start. As it stands, training at top flight level has been pushed back to at least April 4, with huge knock-on effects for their fixtures calendar. In reality, until the Government outlines its roadmap for lifting Covid restrictions next week, the GAA will have to twiddle their thumbs in frustration.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.