Mickey Harte rubbishes ‘players are slaves’ charge

Mickey Harte has hit out at the suggestion that modern inter-county managers are making unreasonable demands of their players.

In fact, the three-time All-Ireland winning Tyrone manager said his experience is that he regularly has to order over-enthusiastic players to take a break from training.

Harte is the longest serving county football manager having taken over for the 2003 season and acknowledged that ‘the demands have increased to a certain extent’.

But the 2016 Ulster title winning boss said he felt compelled to rubbish the suggestion that managers are forcing their players to effectively put their lives on hold.

The term ‘indentured slaves’ was infamously coined to label modern county players, some of whom have opted to take breaks from county action to recharge their own batteries.

The role of managers has also been highlighted in the ongoing debate about the club fixture crisis with claims that they are partly to blame for not releasing players for club duty.

“Yes there is a huge demand but also the modern day Gaelic football athlete wants to do what they are doing - I want to set the record straight on that,” said Harte.

“Some people would have us believe that (players) don’t enjoy what they are doing or that it is a chore for them. I have not yet met anyone who does not enjoy playing for Tyrone and I think there are very few county footballers who do not enjoy what they are doing.

“In fact, they set the standards for themselves. They are the most demanding people on their own time, their own commitment, and they have to be admired for it and they enjoy what they are doing.

“So we don’t want that soundbite going out there that they don’t enjoy what they are doing.

“People don’t enjoy putting in the hard grind to get themselves into the peak condition that they want to be in but they know that it is the price they pay to enjoy something later. And they do enjoy it.

“In fact, in recent times, I have had to tell people to stop training. I never had to do that before in my life. People are doing too much and they don’t understand the value of recovery, and you have to hold them back. That is where they are at, these young men, and I can’t think that men that do that aren’t enjoying it.

“They love that they have this opportunity to be an athlete at the top level. I do believe that. It is typical that if you say something (negative) often enough, and with enough vigour, that people will start seeing it as a truth but I don’t buy that.”

An apparent ‘contract’ drawn up by the management of a St Brigid’s club team in Dublin has been widely distributed in recent days. It makes various demands on the players who must sign up to it if they want to be involved.

It could be interpreted as another sign, albeit at club level, of a manager making unreasonable demands of his players though Harte paid it little heed.

“This is a very extreme example and we can’t hold that up as a typical example of what goes on in the GAA world,” he said.

“Keep it in context, that is overboard and extreme in one fashion. Accept it as such, don’t believe that this is the way of the world now, that the place is in chaos.”

Harte believes it’s necessary to stand up for county managers whom he feels are often blamed for wielding too much power and contributing to various issues like burnout and club schedule headaches.

“That happens,” he nodded. “There are lots of things thrown at county managers, that they are power brokers and that they want too much and all this. That’s just, again, language that is thrown out there and if it’s thrown out often enough it can become a truth for some people. I don’t see it as the case.”

Tyrone, winners of the last five McKenna Cup titles, still have an outside shot of reaching this season’s semi-finals despite defeat to Cavan. Their cause hasn’t been helped by Connor McAliskey’s cruciate setback while Sean Cavanagh has picked up a knee injury.

“He tweaked something behind his knee, that’s given him bother,” said Harte of veteran Cavanagh. “It’s not a big issue but we won’t rush it and set him back. We want to give him every chance of being ready for the most important part of the year. I’ve no doubt he’ll be ready for the start of the league.”