Dessie Farrell: Player burnout issue overplayed

Indentured slaves, Joe Brolly called them.

You’d be hard-pressed to find many inter-county players willing to agree — at least publicly — and even Gaelic Players Association (GPA) chief executive Dessie Farrell believes that the lament for the lot of those he represents has waxed a tad too lyrical.

“I think there has been an overreaction to it, definitely,” said Farrell of what has become the first trending topic of the GAA calendar year. “Is there a modicum of truth in it? There is, for a specific cohort of player. The younger player who is on the county panel and U21 panel and playing colleges — and throw your clubs in on top of that — for a short window of maybe four to six weeks, it is really difficult for those players.”

The GPA actually held a number of workshops last year on the issue of burnout and associated concerns among underage players specifically and engaged with various other stakeholders for their input as well.

A report on their findings is imminent and Farrell believes such hard evidence, printed in black and white, will be indispensable to a debate that has exercised many but in a vacuum of empirical data that is needed to properly address it.

“We do need a body of work to identify exactly what the problems are because a lot of it is opinion and your opinion might be different to mine. We need to find out what is going on from the players operating at the coal face. What it is actually like.

“Once you have the facts, and we will base the report on facts, then you make recommendations that might make a difference. Outside of that, you are talking about the more mature player and some of the comments and discussion recently is very interesting.”

Farrell’s take on this issue, given his role with the GPA and managing stints with Dublin’s minor footballers, is far more nuanced than that of someone like Brolly whose scatter-gun approach has again garnered headlines.

Not all players are equal, for a start. Some cope with the stresses and strains involved in the modern inter-county game better than others and the fact is that no-one who wears a county jersey is doing so under duress.

“To operate at the elite level of sport is not easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. There are challenges and sacrifices that are made but our sense, ultimately, is that the players really enjoy it and they want to be the best that they can be.

“If I came in as a manager and said that I’m concerned about their workload, that we are going to reduce the training schedule, to make sure they are looked after and all this stuff that is so important, they would go off and play some other sport.”

The bottom line is balance. The more progressive counties, he believes, are recognising the need to marry effort with recovery but the intensity and the insatiable appetite to win is not something that can be tampered with, whatever Brolly may say.

That means smarter training rather than more training and, though the coaches have a huge say in that, Farrell turned the spotlight back on the players, who he says bear the ultimate responsibility for their own welfare.

It’s a point well made and one backed up by Limerick hurler Donal O’Grady who, like so many of his inter-county colleagues this last while, made light of the suggestion that they were chained to a miserable existence by their GAA commitments.

“Obviously, things have changed for the better. There’s a lot more involved now in terms of preparation just to get yourself physically right compared to 10 years ago. That’s because the game has got faster and the competition hotter.

“If you want to win something you have to be up there with the best and the best are doing four or five and maybe some of them six nights a week. It’s not all about the amount of time you put into it. There’s gym, nutritionists, and it takes over your life, no doubt.”

O’Grady’s former manager with Limerick, John Allen, always labelled it as a lifestyle choice and that’s something bought into by the defender whose own business, a shop in Ballingarry, has suffered for his sporting ambitions.

“It takes a toll in the sense of the lack of time I’d have at home in the shop. Again, that’s my choice. I’m lucky enough to have been selected for Limerick and that’s all I’ve wanted to do. I’m lucky enough to have a good support base around me at home to help me out a bit. For that reason I’m able to commit 100% to Limerick.”