The Club Players Association are demanding that the GAA protect the club championship window.
With the allocation of an eleven week club window, the CPA is adamant that this time is given to over clubs to enable meaningful competitive games for players despite the truncated season.
”As an association we must respect the integrity of our club competitions and this means using the time available in the best possible way” said CPA Chairman Micheál Briody.
“Suggestions of running of championships in blitz format or shrunk to a very tight timeframe to enable county preparations are sacrilege and will have long lasting implications” added Briody.
To provide clarity to the GAA membership the CPA are asking:
- What are the leadership going to do to ensure all counties optimally use the 11 weeks allocated to run their championships?
- What are the leadership going to do to ensure intercounty players are not asked or coerced into training with the intercounty team before they finish their club championships? In some counties, intercounty managers have very strong influence over the fixtures scheduling. We call on Croke Park through the powers vested in The Management Committee at a Special Congress held on April 17th 2020, to use those powers to take a stand once and for all on this and rule with appropriate sanction
“We recognise that 2020 has been a year like no other for us all and we wish to express our deepest sympathy to all GAA clubs who have lost members of their community during this pandemic.”
“We know also that it is the support of clubs that has supported and consoled many bereaved families despite these difficult times of social distancing and uncertainty“.
“At the highest level, the GAA have provided very clear and unambiguous leadership in completely closing club facilities at the height of the crisis. This undoubtedly saved lives. We also commend clubs and their members for coming together to help others in their communities during the pandemic. It has shown the underlying strength of the GAA lies in the grassroots community led togetherness.”
“Now as we return to play our games it is very positive that club hurling and football has been allocated 11 weeks at the height of summer. It will bring a great lift to communities to get our games back under way, however we have a number of concerns we are asking GAA leadership to address.”
Already we have seen different counties proposing blitz competitions to get club competitions out of the way so their intercounty teams can resume training as early as possible.
Is this not a once in a lifetime opportunity for the leadership of the GAA to enforce fairness on each county so a level playing field is achieved?
