‘Player welfare being ignored’
GAA President Nickey Brennan yesterday named a 12-man committee, on which Duffy will serve. The group will submit proposals to address evidence of the impact of player burnout on elite players in the 16-21 age groups.
The task force will be chaired by former Dublin manager Dr Pat O’Neill who, like GAA Head of Games Pat Daly and Colm O’Rourke, served on a similar committee three years ago, one which attempted to tackle the problem of over-training. The group will hold its first meeting on Wednesday, April 4 and is expected to present its findings at the end of June.
“There has been a lot of focus on the U21 championships and that has not been the intention,” Duffy said yesterday. “The problem isn’t seen to be the U21 championships themselves. The problem is the many obvious clashes between the U21 and other competitions for players.
“I have been at any number of presentations and coaching conferences and I don’t believe people have a problem with the U21 grade. The big problem area seems to be when people are in their first or second year in college.”
Duffy has previously advocated scrapping the U21 grade, in football at least, and is also in favour of restricting first-year college students to their Freshers’ teams.
However, Lynette Hughes of the University of Ulster published evidence recently that suggested the real problems were concentrated outside college years in the 16-18 and 22-24 age groups.
Hughes found that “devaluation” of players was most evident in the 16-18 group while “reduced accomplishment” was most prevalent among those aged 22 to 24.
While that suggests the biggest problem areas lie before and after third-level education, Duffy points out that players serve more masters in their college years than at any other time.
“It’s the whole amalgam of competitions is the problem, not just the one, and sometimes the consequences of all that can’t be seen until a few years later when a player is 22 or 23.”
It is only recently that GAA-specific studies like Hughes’ have become available, and with such a trove of statistics at their beck and call, Duffy is adamant that the committee will be recommending cures and not reiterating the symptoms.
“There is more than enough evidence to prove that burnout is a real problem in the GAA today. There is no need for us to try and come up with more. What we have to do is make a decision based on that evidence.”
Whatever recommendations are forwarded will be stop-gap measures. Duffy accepts that the real challenge is the re-education of those who have yet to realise that less can be more.
“That is something we will be looking at, seminars and courses for players, coaches and others involved in teams or fixtures. This is about raising awareness.”
Meanwhile, 2006 champions Meath were yesterday drawn alongside Dublin the pick of the ties for this year’s ESB Minor Football Leinster Championship. However, the losers of that tie — and the other five — will be able to avail of a back door in a radically restructured competition.
Eighteen games were needed to run the competition in 2006. There will be one less this season. Last year’s hurling finalists, Kilkenny and Dublin, will sit out the first round of fixtures. In total, there will be 75 championship inter-county games hurling and football played at the grade this summer.
Burnout Task Force members: Dr Pat O’Neill (Dublin), Mickey Moran (Derry), Seamus Qualter (Westmeath), Colm O’Rourke (Meath), Davie Fitzgerald (Clare), John Tobin (Galway), Keith Higgins (Mayo), Jack Devanney (Chairman, Comhairle Ard-Oideachais), Prof. Niall Moyna (DCU), Michael Reynolds (Leinster Council), Pat Daly (Director of Games) and Paraic Duffy (Player Welfare Manager).
Leinster MFC draw (Rd 1): Kilkenny v Laois, Wexford v Westmeath, Wicklow v Offaly, Dublin v Meath, Longford v Carlow, Louth v Kildare.
Leinster MHC draw (Rd. 1): Kildare v Laois, Wexford v Carlow, Wicklow v Offaly, Westmeath v Meath.
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