I want players to play, not strike, says CPA co-ordinator Liam Griffin

The Club Players’ Association’s hurling fixtures co-ordinator Liam Griffin is not interested in the group taking a nuclear option and calling on players to strike.

The 1996 All-Ireland-winning manager, who believes Congress “does not work well” in helping clubs and deciding other matters, is against taking drastic measures.

“For the simple reason I want fellas to play games, I don’t want to stop them playing games. I’m not a member of ASTI or a trade union or somebody saying ‘the gates are locked and you can’t go in’, so, from my perspective, I don’t want to see a situation where we take games away, I want to work in a meaningful way.”

Griffin believes there must be separate club and county seasons.

“The first thing I’d like to see is an inter-county season and a club season, because the inter-county system is actually unfair to some counties. It is weighted towards counties that are well-geared towards that particular structure that is there. For example, if you organise an inter-county process where you have a one-sport game, football or hurling only, that system there might facilitate you but that marginalises other counties.”

On Congress, he said: “My view, without being disrespectful of the people who are there — they are an evolutionary process as well — that system does not work, in my opinion. They are going to put a man [Donald Trump] in in America as president and, whether he’s nuts or not, I don’t know, but he didn’t even get an overall majority and he got in.

“Yet, we can’t get a motion unless there’s a two-thirds majority and yet someone stumps up a rulebook to stop something he personally doesn’t like. Where is the intelligence saying that’s correct? If the intelligence from the players saying this is correct, why aren’t we following what our own people tell us? Or are we going to say we won’t do what our players want us to do? It’s not right.”

Meanwhile Griffin claims Davy Fitzgerald will emulate his 2013 All-Ireland victory with Clare if he leads Wexford to promotion from Division 1B this spring.

He is delighted Fitzgerald has come on board, though he bemoans that it was deemed by the selection committee that there was nobody from within the county fit to succeed Liam Dunne.

“If he gets us out of Division 1B this year and, to be fair to him, and I won’t be stacking dice against him, it would be a remarkable achievement if he done that. It would match anything he has ever done up to date, if we could get out of there.

“That might sound trite, but it’s not. We have to beat Limerick and Galway and the rest of them, as well. It’s a big ask for Wexford to go to Salthill and beat Galway, because Galway look like they’re very close or there or thereabouts. Fellas will say Galway always looked like that but they are close now.

“I think if he does anything good this year, it will be a bonus, but if he keeps the squad together for a couple of years I think that in itself will be a bonus. It will be good for us.”

“I’m delighted Davy’s there. I would have much preferred — and this is no disrespect to Davy — that a Wexford person of the same enthusiasm stood up and took the job. I think he [Fitzgerald] has learned something every step of the road he has travelled. I think he’s an inspirational guy.”