Lack of bubble for GAA players a factor in losing 'elite' status

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers says GAA hadn't shown "a massive appetite” to return in immediate term 

The GAA’s director of communications Alan Milton has suggested the inability of inter-county players to bubble up was a factor in the GAA no longer being granted elite status under Level 5 restrictions, while Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers has said there “wasn’t a massive appetite” among the GAA to return to on-field activity in the “immediate term”.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, GAA communications director Milton touched on the amateur status of GAA players and their inability to bubble up away from the community when addressing the Government decision to no longer allow GAA activity under Level 5 restrictions.

“The exemption that we received last autumn for inter-county games no longer applies, in essence, which means because our players can't bubble, and they are amateur players, they obviously operate freely in the community; the situation was confirmed earlier this week in discussions with the Government,” Milton explained.

Over on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1, Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers alleged the GAA had not shown a “massive appetite” to return in the “immediate term”.

“When the GAA Championship was run off in 2020, that was done in the context of Level 5 and there was a concession outside of the framework approved by the government. Once the Championship finished in December, as you know, there were no fixtures scheduled at that point.

“There was also a very difficult Level 5 lockdown for the country so the regulations didn't capture that because there were no fixtures in the current schedule.” 

He later expanded on this point by stating the concession awarded in the autumn of 2020 to allow GAA games activity proceed concluded "at the end of last year".

“When you look at the background context of January, where we had more cases than we did in the whole of last year, that is why the government is revising the plan. I haven't any communication from NPHET on this. It is a case of giving a direct answer to a direct question on whether there is a current concession for inter-county GAA, and that concluded at the end of December.” 

The GAA did not request a concession in either January or February, according to the junior minister. But given the GAA initially set a return-to-training date of January 15, it is clear the GAA did not believe that any concession needed to be sought.

“When we met them, in fact, they [the GAA] were very clear that there wasn't a massive appetite to return in the immediate term,” Chambers added.

During the interview, the Minister of State said “there was no decision taken to remove the GAA from the elite category. It's a case of giving clarity on the regulations as they currently stand. It wasn't a case of deciding anything”.

“We aren't in a position to give a specific date [for a return to play] at this point. We'll try to give that later in the month when we revise the plan.”