Football

Danny Hughes: Early GAA development squads creating elitist headache

The huge response I received from so many people after last week's column was overwhelming.

I suppose it re-iterated to me that so much goodwill exists within the GAA and the wider public in Irish society, that we can forget just how supportive we can be to each other.

In a world of smart phones and connectivity, the human aspect of one-to-one interaction is much more important than ever before.

And this is no more obviously relevant than within the GAA community who lead the way in Irish society, providing love, membership and support for all their people.

So I thank you all, taking comfort in the fact that for everyone, the support is there.

Getting back to the football is important. It has been a long season for many players out there.

Invariably pre-season for most GAA clubs, at whatever level, whether it is senior, intermediate and junior level, begins in January.

It has become almost a race to see who can start the earliest.

I know quite a few clubs who have started their pre-season already, believe it or not. GAA clubs have morphed into an all-year round hub of activity.

You could be guaranteed that 20 years ago, the club could shut down in the months from October until January. That is not the case nowadays.

Invariably those clubs without indoor facilities are booking community halls and leisure centre facilities to accommodate under-age development, in one way to combat fall-out rates among under-age players (and indirectly their parents).

Losing a talented under-age player to soccer or, increasingly rugby, in the winter months can be a significant loss to any club.

Especially when our local GAA clubs have invested so much time and effort in getting young players to an ‘elite’ level of physical development only to be snatched away akin to the Australian-bound AFL players.

That’s the chance we take now.

I don’t really understand how moving the All-Ireland final forward to August on a yearly basis makes any difference toward benefitting our game for either the clubs or counties.

In the same breath, as the clubs ‘April only’ rule brought in last year demonstrated, that ‘soft’ measure attempted to fix a leaking roof with a sticking plaster.

All it did was create another stick for the GAA to beat themselves with.

The only solution in my eyes to forget about the war between clubs versus counties at both underage and senior level, but concentrate on a more harmonious relationship between club and counties.

Work hand in hand with, and not against each other.

Currently a yearly battle will rage between county development squads and club underage team managers/ chairmen. Unfortunately county boards (secretaries in particular) are in a no-win position.

Clubs want to develop and have access to their own players, while the county development teams are also seeking their services.

Should a county not have a development structure at under-age level, they are considered ill-prepared and unprofessional.

If they do, they are accused of prioritising county participation to club participation and indirectly weakening the game at under-age level as players are suffering burnout.

At senior level, nothing is more contentious at the minute.

Club games in both the League and the Championship are only facilitated after agreement, and with the approval of, the county senior manager in the majority of cases. For many fans, this is a case of the tail wagging the dog.

This is everything that’s wrong with the club v county problem.

To be fair, in Down, I think we have the balance right in this regard. All league games are played on a Friday night.

The Championship begins in August and while league activity is facilitated once in that month, by and large, the Championship ends in September, easily facilitating the club champions to rest before Ulster Club Championship commences.

By playing League games on a Friday night, you allow the weekend free for inter-county teams, on a Saturday or Sunday.

And importantly for families and social occasions. 

Armagh, play League games on a Sunday, a disaster for any family man and / or any inter-county footballer. The fact that the leagues are tiered and finish early in the Orchard County is irrelevant.

What invariably happens, as is the case with one Armagh club, is that their team is now effectively playing League football in the third division - ironically as a result of missing their four inter-county footballers for most of the year due to their participation on the Armagh squad.

Four very good players too who should be playing inter-county football.

The fact that they end up missing a lot of League football for their club invariably due to their absence as a result of inter-county commitment, is simply unacceptable.

Players want to train less and play more games, especially for their clubs.

The above example I am sure, is happening across the country, symptomatic of the inadequate planning of a fixtures calendar in a county.

As supporters, we want to see our best players playing for our clubs through-out a season, for both League and Championship competitions.

We don’t want to see the ‘county-man’ for three to four games only during the summer for the odd Championship match.

Our clubs deserve more than this.

At under-age level, with the establishment of development squads, an ‘elitist’ group of players are now being taken out of some club league and championship games as young as 13.

We are really creating a monster here.

If we are serious about creating pathways to inter-county participation and creating players for senior club football, should we really be allowing players to be in a development sphere at 13?

Surely at 16 years of age, it is old enough?

By allowing players to be ‘developed’ at such a young age, you invariably label a player as a ‘county’ man/woman much younger.

Those who do not participate at this ‘elite’ level can ultimately feel like a failure.

You create a barrier between the elite player and his club team-mates invariably due to him/her missing club games.

You weaken a club team potentially.

You also run the risk of over-training and burning out underage players.

The county board is also expensed to the tune of several thousand pounds per annum for each child from the moment they enter a development pathway.

Our clubs and our schools until then should benefit from any players skills and perhaps when a player hits the 16 ‘mark’ the availability of county resources would be better spent on their development and indirectly within our clubs.

County boards need to get their own house in order.

This is the only way to solve the fixtures calendar, not in Croke Park.