After all the difficulties that have been waded through over the past two years, we don’t need the GAA and GPA shaping up for a showdown.
The ground has shifted beneath our feet any number of times since March 2019 and with normality having effectively returned in recent weeks, then the mileage rate for players should have been restored to 65c from 50c without hesitation and players paid up.
After all, while it’s been a testing two years for the GAA, there has been good support from the Government on top of several years of healthy profits.
The county boards that I’ve worked with in Waterford, Clare and Waterford have always done their best to look after players and I’m sure that the GPA would acknowledge that their members are generally well catered for.
At the heart of this fallout is the number of training sessions that are held each week. The GAA says it’s only prepared to stump up for four gatherings a week and that anything above that would have to be resolved with the local county board.
I think four collective sessions is fair and I don’t see why managers would want more than that. I’ve come to realise over the course of my managerial career that less can be more.
Early in the year you might call three to four gatherings and there would be a couple of gym sessions on top of that which players could do locally. But the gym work would drop off come the Championship.
There has to be give and take and players need their own time. I’m involved in inter-county camogie now and we’re not bringing the Cork girls to the field at all this week.
They’ve worked hard so they’re getting some time off. They can just do a gym session in their own time.
Their commitment is unreal, yet they get no expenses whatsoever and are lucky to get a sandwich after training. Now, that’s something that really needs to be looked at. The Cork camogie board is very good and they do their best but they need a bit of help.
I would urge the GAA and GPA to sit down and sort this out, sooner rather than later. There’s a serious summer ahead with full crowds for the first time in three years.
Many players and managers didn’t speak to the media over the weekend and I didn’t like that. If the talks have broken down completely and there’s no going back to the table, then I can see why such action might be taken but, from what I’ve been led to believe, the door is very much open, even if things weren’t developing as quickly as the GPA might have liked.
There’s talk now of delaying throw-in times and possibly even boycotting games. We certainly don’t need that.
If I had players come to me with that kind of proposal, as a manager I’d back them to the hilt if I felt they were being unfairly treated but if there’s a pathway to a solution through dialogue, I’d be sending them in that direction first.
The 65c rate has been restored and, as I’ve said, four collective sessions a week is enough and something that the GPA should be pushing for themselves as anything beyond that is unreasonable on players.
A bit of a climbdown on both sides could resolve this pretty quickly and then the focus can revert to what’s happening on the field, not off it.
League structure needs freshening up as dull weekend beckons
There are a number of games this weekend that are non-events and it suggests that something needs to change with the League structure.
My preference would be for eight or nine teams in Division One, which should start earlier in the year and in place of the Munster League and Walsh Cup, neither of which are necessary in my opinion.
You could have the top four qualifying for the semi-finals and two relegation places at the foot of the table.
It would make for more competitive games as nobody wants to be in relegation trouble. You’ve got to take that safety valve out of the League to make it more competitive and, at the moment, most counties know that they’ve got nothing to worry about in that respect.
Another thing that would help the League’s standing would be to wrap it up a month before the Championship.
There would be a greater incentive for teams to go after the competition then, whereas concluding it just two weeks before counties enter a taxing Championship round robin means that the League is always going to come a very distant second.
Shadow boxing not likely at Nowlan Park
There may be a number of dead rubbers this Sunday and with Waterford as good as in the semi-final, their visit to Nowlan Park may have the look of one.
But Brian Cody will want as many games as possible to tie down his Championship team and so getting to a League semi-final will be a priority, particularly as they open their Leinster campaign against Westmeath and Laois next month.
Meanwhile, Liam Cahill is a born winner who doesn’t want to lose any game.
It should be physical and I’ll be interested to see how Kilkenny cope with Waterford running the ball.
Plenty for Galway and Clare to iron out in last League outing
The League semi-finals might be out of reach for Galway and Clare but there’s still a little bit of intrigue to their meeting in Salthill.
It’s their last outing before Championship and as they’re in different provinces they don’t have to worry about revealing too much of themselves to each other with a bigger date in mind.
This is a useful outing in front of a crowd for two teams that have been very average during the League and need to refine a pattern of play.
Clare have some talented players who will hopefully show their promise and while Galway have experimented quite a bit, it’s now time to get a settled team for Championship. I don’t think anything other than a win will satisfy the home supporters.
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