“HOW did we come to this?” asked former Down player Mark Poland when he considered the uproar over the group of Dublin footballers who broke the GAA (and Government) ban on training yesterday.
Poland doesn’t dispute that the nine Dubs – including Jonny Cooper, Brian Fenton and Brian Howard – breached the rules in their dawn session but he does question what real harm their actions at the Innisfails GAC grounds caused.
His own county was punished for a breach of the guidelines in February which resulted in manager Paddy Tally being banned for eight weeks. Cork manager Ronan McCarthy was also sidelined for 12 weeks for ‘discrediting the Association’ and it looks certain that Dublin will also face sanctions.
On Tuesday the GAA informed all clubs and counties that any breaches of the current ban on collective training could put their overall plans for a return "in serious jeopardy". The Association yesterday stated it’s "frustration and extreme disappointment" at Dublin’s decision to ignore their warning and breach their rules.
“I just hope that it doesn’t hold us back from getting started again,” said Poland.
“I hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on the whole thing.
“You have to appreciate that the GAA have set their stall out,” he added.
“The inter-county teams got dates (training can begin on April 19) that they were going to be back in less than three weeks. You can see it in two ways: You have to appreciate the rules and stick to them, especially after Down and Cork stepped out of line and I think it’s safe to say that there are other teams at it who haven’t been caught.
“The other thing is: How has it got to this point where we aren’t back playing our outdoor sports? I think it’s crazy that it has come to this.”
Poland pointed out how public parks and forest trails are packed at weekends. Why, he asks, should thousands of people be permitted to congregate in one area, while nine footballers can’t do some training in another?
“There are rules being broken in terms of people travelling more than 10 miles for exercise and you have people coming from all over the North to trek the Mournes,” he said.
“I was in Gosford Park (Markethill) on St Patrick’s Day and the place was heaving. Technically those people are breaking rules are well but at the same time you can’t blame them because everybody is just sick of staring at the walls at home.”
Tally and McCarthy took the rap for their teams because they were present at the Down and Cork sessions but, although a coach is reported to have been present yesterday, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell was not pictured at Innisfails.
“You would imagine that after Paddy got his ban and Ronan McCarthy got a ban that the same thing would happen to Dublin,” said Poland.
“Dessie Farrell isn’t in the photograph so did he even know it was going on? The Dublin chairman said it was news to him that it was going on. I’m sure there will be plenty of people jumping to conclusions about what happened, it’s just giving people fuel to throw onto the fire.
“It’ll be up to the GAA to take whatever actions they see fit but I just keep going back to the question: How have we come to this? Why have we been stopped from participating in outdoor sports - and I include children and adults in that – especially after the manner in which GAA clubs went about their business in the last return to play. I don’t know if there were many cases that came from any club’s activities so I don’t know why that couldn’t continue.”
