GAA exploiting loyal players

On the subject of GAA players being forced to play on a championship match on a Friday, I want to voice the implications of this personally for the players, their families and colleagues, and also professionally for the players and the organisations who employ them.

As a colleague of one of the Laois players, MJ Tierney, my ability to deliver my work schedule has been directly affected. Both he and I were due to spend Friday, Jun 27, in Belfast at an organisational review and training day for one of our business divisions. Cognisant about MJ’s welfare, and as a respected member of staff, our management have agreed to give him adequate time off, even though this directly impacts our business.

Like a lot of others, availability of work in smaller rural towns is difficult to come by and my colleague commutes to Dublin five days a week. Along with an extremely demanding full-time job, he travels 18-20 hours a week on the commute to Dublin. After the round trip and a full day’s work, he then trains for two hours each evening. He usually has a match on a Saturday or Sunday, while also trying to devote as much time as possible to his two-year-old daughter and fiancée in between.