Billy Joe Padden: Training ban is a non-starter

Billy Joe Padden says it is fanciful to believe a single county will be reprimanded for breaking the winter training ban.

It was agreed at Congress last February to penalise teams who returned to collective training during the closed season: Senior inter-county panels would forfeit their first home game in the national league, while U21 football panels would be prevented from playing challenge games until January 31.

Former Mayo and Armagh footballer Padden expects there are very few counties who observe the closed season and he insists that moving back the provincial pre-season competitions to the beginning of February is what is required to ensure players are afforded a proper break from training.