Kieran Shannon: GAA needs to examine cursory attitude to backroom teams

For the most part the view of the GAA would seem to be more like Uncle Matt LeBlanc: A stats man, wha’?! Be the hokey! And who’s your friend there? A sports nutritionist?! Ah, Jaysus, stop! And tell me, do ye have to go to college to do that?

Turlough O’Brien attributed much of Carlow’s resurgence on his beat to its county teams linking up with the resources and expertise available at the local IT. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

While up north we’d the welcome development last weekend of 500 supporters being allowed back in to watch their county play, in the south we have a situation where even people involved day-to-day in the preparation of those teams still aren’t let in to see them.

Not that they’re crying about it, or that anyone else is going to cry for them. Indeed the public’s attitude to the prevailing GAA dictum that no more than 12 backroom members can be granted access to a match venue wouldn’t be too dissimilar to the inference headquarters had in rolling out that protocol again this year, an outlook that could accompany a Matt LeBlanc meme: Sure tough for them — there’s too many of them as is!