GAA faces battle to win kids' hearts and minds back from Match of the Day

Meath senior coach Colm Nally saw his young son taking the knee before a kickaround

20 July 2020; Dublin footballer Ciarán Kilkenny is tackled by Réalta Moran at the Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camp in St Brendan’s GAA Club, Dublin. The camp was attended by Siún Brophy, the 1 millionth child to register for the the Kellogg's GAA Cúl Camps since the beginning of the Kellogg sponsorship in 2012. The stars of the future also celebrated the start of the 2020 GAA Cúl Camps which began today across the country. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Meath senior coach Colm Nally says the GAA has to think outside the box to win the hearts and minds of children after their long lay-off from the sport.

Ahead of the return of under-age training in the Republic of Ireland from Monday, Nally has contributed to a feature focusing on child and youth coaching and training in Saturday's Irish Examiner.

During the lockdown, the former Louth footballer noticed how impressionable children, including his youngest son, were by the Premier League as inter-county GAA ground to a halt at the end of December on the insistence of the Government.

As well as producing a game-based Gaelic football training book, Nally has published training drills on YouTube. To help make up for lost time, he believes Croke Park have to be innovative to keep children playing Gaelic sports.

“By the time we play our first league game, it will be five months since there was a game of live football or hurling on TV. Since the weather’s turned, my youngest fella goes out to the green in front of the house to play soccer and it might be five v five or six v six but before every game they take the knee like they do in the Premier League. That’s what is influencing kids at the moment. They’re seeing no GAA.

“A popular show in our house is ‘The Cycling Goalkeeper’ on YouTube about the Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster who cycles to training and puts a GoPro behind his goals for matches and it’s fascinating. Children are getting their media from different outlets and we need to offer them something tangible like that. The Cúl and summer camps are coming up and we need to see our top inter-county stars more.

“The GAA has to move with the modern trends that engage children. Five months without football on TV is a long time and when I saw my son taking the knee he’s getting his fix from Match of the Day and that.”

Read advice tomorrow from 15 top coaches on helping kids to fall back in love with sport