Walsh: Inter-county build-up over the top

Munster Council chairman Seán Walsh last night claimed preparations of inter-county GAA teams had reached “an unprecedented and perhaps dangerous level.”

Walsh, in his address to the province’s annual convention in Dungarvan, said demands on amateur players have become too great, while he also hit out at the government’s treatment of rural Ireland and the impact such actions are having on the GAA at grassroots level.

The Kerry native told delegates: “we have reached an unprecedented and perhaps dangerous level of preparation for amateur players who have to combine work, family life, and then in their so called leisure time training at a level that some players in professional sports would find difficult to endure. The fact it is considered necessary is even worse. The debate of amateur versus professional is currently ongoing in the media and is also a topic of conversation among many GAA members. At the moment amateur players are doing a professional amount of work, a situation that is seeing many of them leave the game before they should. I have never known a player who would not do what is asked of him in the pursuit of excellence and in the hope of success. But when is enough considered too much for the player still operating in the amateur game?”