MICKEY Graham has vowed that he won’t call on his players until after the Cavan club championship is finished, saying there is “no need” to pit players into a club v county row.
Club games are set to return first in the GAA, with counties all given an 11-week window from Friday, July 31 until Sunday, October 11 to complete their championships.
There are growing concerns that county teams will breach their given return date of September 14, while some county boards have been criticised for the schedules they’ve drawn up.
The Club Players’ Association called the idea of shortening club championships to suit their county teams “sacrilege”.
Cavan boss Graham, who last summer guided his county to the Ulster final for the first time since he was still playing in 2000, believes his county board will strike a balance and that regardless, the club players must be respected.
Clubs in the county are guaranteed a minimum of four championship games and a preliminary date of October 11 had been set for Cavan’s county football final, but that may yet be brought forward slightly.
“I can understand how important it is to get the club championship running for counties. There’s a lot more players playing club football than playing inter-county, so I think it’s hugely important that the club gets preference.
“There’s a lot of debate at the minute about managers bringing players back training – that puts an awful lot of pressure on players, it puts them in an awkward position between club and county.
“I’m of the impression to let them go back to their clubs, let them play and get their match fitness up. The only way they’ll get fit is by playing matches, and the more games they can get, the better.
“The majority of county players will be in reasonable shape and games will bring them on. I don’t think there’s any need for counties to be bringing them in and training them an extra day in the week along with their clubs.
“We have to let them bang away with the year that’s in it. When we’re officially allowed to bring them back, bring them back, and if they’re still involved with their club come September 13, let them bang away with the club.
“The year that’s in it, it would be very unfair to put players in that position to choose between club and county.”
He’s been enjoying plenty of time to think over the past three months and has found himself wondering over the general state of the calendar, aside from this year’s obvious complications.
He believes that all parties can do more to try and shorten the season and lighten the load on inter-county players.
“Funny I was thinking about this. We start pre-season training every November and it’s a normal thing to have 13, 14, 15 players coming back injured for pre-season.
“When you look at the inter-county player, they’ve maybe played seven National League games, eight if they got to a final. Then they go back to their clubs and play five league games, then back to inter-county to play championship.
“If they get a run there, it’s maybe three or four games, then back to the club, into league games and then championship – you’re talking on average, a player is playing 23 or 24 games.
“That’s an awful lot of football to be played in a short space of time, to then get a break of four or five weeks and go back at it again. Maybe it’s an opportunity to look at shortening it a small bit.
“I was just looking back at the season and thinking after the National League, is there an opportunity to get into club championship?
“Get it up and running and maybe get to the quarter-final stage, then go back to inter-county and finish up the club season in September, shorten the season for everybody and give players more downtime.
“There’s lots of possibilities, and definitely a lot of food for thought during this."
