DERRY defender Brendan Rogers says he is keen to get back to playing but says he is concerned by the lack of clarity around the GAA’s covid-19 protocols.
Rogers, whose mother is a retired nurse who returned to the workforce to offer support to nursing homes during the pandemic crisis, feels the GAA should publically outline its response to various potential scenarios.
The association has issued guidance around how clubs should prepare for the return to play, the dates of which were moved up the scale at the weekend, with club games now set to return two weeks earlier than planned on July 17.
But in terms of how scenarios that may arise would be dealt with, information has been scarce and Rogers believes it could have implications far beyond the playing fields.
“The biggest problem with what happens will be the return protocols if say somebody in your team or management gets symptoms, how does that get managed for the rest of the team?” asked the Slaughtneil man.
“So say I trained last night with you and went home and started coughing and tested positive, everyone on the team, what happens them?
“They could have had it from me from the night before and I only developed symptoms the next day. Does the whole team just not play then? What happens the game that weekend, is there a 14-day protocol?
“If you’re told to go home and somebody rings you to say you tackled someone in a drill last night and they have the symptoms, what way are you?
“Do you get tested or not? Do you go to work as well? It’s not just a sporting perspective, you could affect the workplace. Do you stay at home?
“There are more implications than just not playing your sport, especially if people had families. You don’t know who people are looking after, you don’t know what jobs people have. so much risk that comes with it that hasn’t really been clarified.
“It’s easy for professional clubs because they’re sitting in hotels and isolating all the time and they’re tested regularly. There can be so many anomalies in the GAA,” said Rogers, who was speaking before the news of Conor McKenna’s positive test in Australia that forced the cancellation of Essendon’s AFL game at the weekend.
