Feargal Logan: ‘There are 20 or more in the group who have had positive Covid tests’

The GAA last night pushed back the Kerry-Tyrone All-Ireland SFC semi-final to Saturday, August 28. They did so after Tyrone stated they will not be in a position to play next Saturday due to the high number of Covid incidents within their panel. Before the GAA’s announcement, Declan Bogue spoke to joint-manager Feargal Logan

TESTING TIMES: Tyrone joint manager Feargal Logan says the country’s Covid crisis as ‘the most challenging thing I have ever been involved in, in football and I have been in a lot of challenging positions right through the Troubles and onwards’. Picture: Inpho/Laszlo Geczo

Declan Bogue: Feargal, Tyrone have stated they will not be playing Kerry this Saturday, What would you like instead.

Feargal Logan: Ideally, we would like to play a meaningful, competitive All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.

We earned the right to do that in three tough games in Ulster. And we are somewhat in the hands of others at this stage.

We have had the full cross-section of Covid at this stage in our panel, from hospitalisation, to boys who have had relatively limited symptoms. But we have a heavy body of players in the middle who have been struck down by this virus and who are now in the return to play protocol. We still have some guys who haven’t returned to play and we are six days out from the fixture.

We have had expert medical advice, within our own group of medics in the panel, and Professor Paddy Mallon of UCD and St Vincent’s who is a disease control expert.

He has provided a written report to us and the report is clear that it is unsafe to play next weekend, and every day that goes by after that, particularly in another week, would make it significantly safer in terms of the return to play protocol.

Now, this virus is a virus that affects the heart and the lungs and to be perfectly honest I am deeply concerned about the overall position, whatever the consequences. I am also deeply concerned about next January when Tyrone try to line up a team of players and they aren’t fit and if there are any residual issues arising through this phase of Covid in our panel.

All things considered, this has been the most challenging thing I have ever been involved in, in football. I have been in a lot of challenging positions right through the Troubles and onwards. But this has been the most challenging.

We battled through an Ulster final and we thought we could stay competitive and we took players out of commission where we felt it would be unsafe.

Now, we are unsafe to proceed in six days’ time and that is the difficult position we find ourselves in.

Maybe the experts in Croke Park, their medics, should speak to our medics and the two sets should genuinely sit down and ask: ‘What is a safe return to play for all involved?’ We are in Croke Park’s hands now. Of course, we would love them to give us three weeks. But we understand that life must go on and Tyrone cannot hold everyone to ransom unduly. That’s why we hope to get at least another seven, eight days out of it, from where it is at.

DB: How much have the Croke Park authorities been in touch with you on this?

FL: We sent our data down. It is a mess and we deeply regret it. We deeply apologise and regret the inconvenience we are causing Kerry at the moment, and to the Association at large.

But there is a player safety and welfare issue. We cannot cut across it and we find ourselves in this difficult bind. We are bound by this at the moment and we are in no position to tell other people what to do.

We just hope that we can get the benefit of playing the fixture.

DB: Can you tell us the actual numbers of infection in the group?

FL: Well, Croke Park have our spreadsheet of numbers. We have had Public Health in and over the last number of weeks, we have had at least 17 or more positive tests, most of whom have played in this year’s Championship. Four or more in the backroom.

So, the bottom line is other guys have had to isolate, other guys have done lateral flow tests and have been sent home from training, and then they came up negative.

We have a serious problem. Genuinely speaking, the Tyrone county board, and Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher do not go to this length, unduly and without a serious issue and serious concerns. Nothing would please us more than to turn into Croke Park next weekend and play a game.

It hasn’t been pretty. We have had one player hospitalised. We are not doing this lightly.

We tested everybody in our ability ahead of the Ulster final with Lateral Flow tests. When we went to Killarney, we did 50-something Lateral Flows before we left.

We are monitoring and mitigating as best we can the risk within our camp.

We then went to Croke Park and Public Health because we were concerned about a week or more ago. They came then on the last Saturday and did a fresh set of tests for those that hadn’t been tested. Public health set up a mobile unit in Garvaghey.

The net position is that there are 20 or more in the group who have had positive tests, 17 players, a significant number of whom have played in this year’s Championship.

DB: Are you satisfied with the preventative protocols and measures?

FL: We resisted meeting as a group at any time, up and until we were properly entitled to by the Association.

That was in honour of the Association’s regulations, but also because the public mood and the public opinion in January and February was not good or favourable and we didn’t want to trifle with the situation.

Since then and even when we were allowed to open dressing rooms, we didn’t open dressing rooms. We stayed outside, there were no shower facilities available. Every meeting we have had has been outside. Open-air video meetings.

If anything did move indoors, such as gym, it was very tightly regulated for any period for players.

We have tried to honour every protocol and every action to do with Covid. Whether people accept that or otherwise is beyond our control. I can assure you of that position.

DB: Are any of these cases due to the group meeting for post-match
celebrations?

FL: This is a community-based issue. We have guys on our team who are not given to even going out, they are locked into their football, and they are down with this.

We at all times have endeavoured to stay away and avoid anything to do with this virus as a group, in our work and socially with the players. But regrettably, the best experts in the world have tried to batten down this virus, get to the sources, get to their transmission and we find ourselves in this position, howsoever it arose.

DB: So players who did not attend post-Ulster final celebrations, have it?

FL: It’s a whole cross-section of our panel. We remain an amateur sport and it is in the community.

The numbers in this part of the world, Mid-Ulster, are the highest I believe in Ireland or the UK.

DB: Tomás ÓSé has asked why this has affected Tyrone and not any of the other panels left in the competition.

FL: The bottom line is, regrettably, a large part of that is just coincidence and luck. And I hope it doesn’t find itself in any other panel because I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody.

I am just hoping it will not happen to any other panel as it has been very disruptive in our panel.

We don’t feel particularly good about the disruption we are causing across Ireland, but we just have to deal with it.

Ultimately it goes back to a player safety and welfare issue and we cannot trifle with that. We have to act in the best interests of our own panel and our own players. That’s the position we find ourselves in.

DB: How are the training sessions right now?

FL: There’s an open stand in Garvaghey and the players would throw their bags in that. Now we put a video screen up in that stand and do everything there.

The players park beside the stand and drive away from there.

The main complex in Garvaghey hasn’t been opened for virtually a year and a half. The Hub gym, we had some usage of with some strict measures. And we tried to conduct a few things in there, but that is now months ago.

DB: How are you doing your strength and conditioning work?

FL: They are asked to go to their own home gyms, or their private places.

But all of that has been totally gone for weeks now. We had a spell of weather where things were lovely, but the last couple of weeks there’s been a few mucky nights up there. That’s life, we have to just get into the car and head home.

But there has been no preparation for any game, let alone a game of this importance. And we are going to have to carry that with us, if we do get the opportunity, we are going to hit a point where we have to focus on football.

DB: What are the levels of vaccination in the panel?

FL: There are a series of players in the panel who are vaccinated.

Obviously, vaccination is a personal choice. They were kept updated by us consistently, as to the timings of vaccinations at the different age groups.

That didn’t come about until late May, June, until it got in around the age group of this cohort.

In fairness, part of the consideration this year was because it was a compressed league and Championship, we were anxious that if guys were vaccinated they might go under for two weeks. And that might inhibit their performance.

Vaccination has been a conundrum. We didn’t make it mandatory across the board. There are some players vaccinated for a variety of reasons, be they on the front line, or work in health.

It’s one of those things, even with the vaccination, people are still getting it and with first-hand experience of that, it lays you low.