John Kiely calls for GAA to revise their new team announcement protocols

The Central Competitions Control Committee revealed on Wednesday that squads released to the GAA on Thursday mornings will now be issued to the public on Friday mornings.

POINTING THE WAY FORWARD: Limerick’s manager John Kiely

John Kiely has called for the GAA to revise their new team announcement protocols or risk widespread dummy teams.

The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) revealed on Wednesday that squads released to the GAA - as per match regulations - on Thursday mornings will now be issued to the public on Fridays. Counties have been informed they will be published at 10am.

Kiely’s Limerick are among a number of teams who train on Friday evenings where they tell the players the starting team and match-day panel.

That management are the first to inform their charges of line-ups is essential, says Kiely who describes it as player welfare issue.

“If your team is out on a Sunday and you’re out on a Friday, we feel very strongly that the players should hear from the management before the team is announced to the wider public and the wider media,” said Kiely at Wednesday’s launch of the Munster senior championships.

“You have to understand that this isn’t going to be just for the first round of the championship, it’s going to be for an All-Ireland final and some difficult decisions will have to be made around team selections and panel selections.

“For a player that doesn’t make it onto a matchday team or the matchday 26, it’s going to be a significant disappointment in his life, for his season and I think it’s really important that we have the opportunity to lead that internally within our groups in every county.”

Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Semi-Final, TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick 25/3/2023

Kiely, who sees merit in the idea, suggests all championship teams be issued at 8pm or 9pm on Friday nights. Otherwise, he feels teams will issue false starting line-ups.

“If it stays at 10am or even 1pm, it doesn’t matter, if it’s a time before training would occur that evening, what’s going to happen is the teams that are going to be submitted are quite simply going to be just the panelists.

“I think it’s a disservice to those who purchase a programme on the day, I think they deserve to know within reason what the team is going to be, that there might be one or two changes but there’s not going to be 12 or 15 changes to the team that’s going to be put out. Teams might be inclined to name their team according to alphabetical order and you might have a corner-back wearing No15 and a corner-forward wearing No4.”

As part of the new initiative, teams will be allowed to include four standby players that they can bring into the squad in the event a player who is named in the original 26 can’t participate for a legitimate reasons such as a confirmed injury, Covid or bereavement.

Kiely added: “Those four need to informed as well. That would normally happen in training. There’s also maybe five, six players depending on your size of a panel who won’t make the matchday panel, who make that four, and they deserve the respect of being informed by management before they are informed by media or otherwise what the team or panel is for the upcoming game.”

He expects players will express their opposition to it.

“I think they will be dissatisfied with it and ultimately I think what will happen is you will end up with squads being named as opposed to teams being named and I think that will put us in a far worse position than we were before the situation was addressed in the first place.

"I would hope some dialogue can be had between the county boards and the provincial councils in order to tidy it up a small bit.”

Kiely is also hopeful Limerick and Tipperary might be allowed to wear jerseys featuring The Dillon Quirke Foundation logo in their Munster SHC Round 4 game in Thurles on May 21.

The GAA’s management committee last month put a check on counties and clubs promoting charities and causes on their jerseys.

After being approached by several members, it is understood the Gaelic Players Association are to discuss the matter at their national executive committee meeting.

Kiely said the plan was for the jerseys to be auctioned off for the foundation. “Clearly, it has run into a difficulty now, because of the particular rule it might be in breach of. That’s disappointing. We’d still be very much open to finding a way of helping the foundation acknowledge what they are trying to do, and honour Dillon’s passion and his life, which was hurling.

“I feel his situation is that little bit unique in that he died playing the game that he loved, on one of the most hallowed surfaces of all in Semple Stadium. I think his situation is different to wider charitable causes. I think there is a distinct difference here.”