Inconsistent restrictions to tackle Covid-19 are driving people mad

Inside Track with John McIntyre

You couldn’t make it up if you tried. Thousands of supporters attending junior and under-age GAA games up and down the country, but nobody allowed in to see senior club hurling and football matches  . . . the high-profile fixtures.  It’s a blatant anomaly which defies logic. In a nutshell, the message is: there’s no risk of picking up Covid-19 at a juvenile or junior game, but there’s every danger of falling victim to the pandemic at a senior club championship encounter.

Of course, when NPHET and the government ruled that sporting events must be held behind closed doors, they weren’t anticipating that junior and underage-games would carry on as normal in terms of supporters turning up. The vast majority of these matches are held at open rural venues where the host club has little interest or motivation in turning people away.

The reality is that most of these GAA grounds are easy to access and frustrated fans are turning up in their droves. Contrast that with what’s happening with senior club matches. They are being held at secure inter-county venues which are nearly impossible to gain ‘illegal’ entry to.

You’d imagine that there should be someone sitting around the Cabinet table who can flag this ridiculous inconsistency. And then have the wit to question stopping fans getting into the big games while crowds are flocking to lower-scale matches. How can it be alright to get into one and not the other?

According to the GAA itself there hasn’t been a single recorded outbreak of the coronavirus associated with the staging of any match. The Association has rigorously complied with NPHET’s restrictions and has even taking it on itself to keep dressing-rooms closed. And what thanks do we get?  . . . nothing, just the continued and unnecessary shattering of people’s spirits.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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