O’Gorman pledges to protect the needs of club players

MUNSTER Council chairman Jimmy O’Gorman has promised to guard the ‘needs and demands’ of club players during his term in office.

“We’ll monitor the progress of club fixtures in each Munster county on an ongoing basis during this inter-county championship season to ensure that the club player is adequately catered for with a regular programme of meaningful competition during the summer months,’’ he pledged.

He said he would be ‘strongly recommending’ that full cognisance be taken by the Competitions Control Committee in each county in relation to the ‘needs and demands’ of club players.

“Fixtures planning can be a very difficult task when team managers of county teams put restraints on panel members from playing with their clubs during the championship season,” he added.

“It is not going to be easy to accommodate a proper balance between county team preparations and training sessions and the necessity to keep our club players active with meaningful games and competition.

“We all want our county teams to progress to the All-Ireland finals in September but this should not be at the expense of curtailing and delaying club championships and league games until the autumn. It is no consolation for club players who crave weekly games and also want to plan their annual holidays. Unless there is a radical change of thought, this situation will prevail for successful counties during the months of June, July, August and September.”

Noting that ‘some counties’ manage to strike a balance between club and county, Mr O’Gorman says that other counties must follow their example.