Punishment for counties ignoring ‘winter break’ to be decided

NEXT month’s meeting of the GAA’s Management Committee will decide on the penalties for counties who default on regulations banning collective training or challenge games for inter-county squads during November and December.

This will be the first time that the policy will be enforced and Director-General Paraic Duffy said in Melbourne yesterday that county committees have been reminded of their importance in the fight against player burnout.

“We’re insisting that this must be the case so that players can get a break for the first time. They can train on their own but there will be no collective training,” he commented.