GAA has lost sight of players' amateur status, insists Moyna

Moyna's difficulty with the topic lies with the training-load faced by players, not the game-load.

ALL TOO MUCH? Clare's David McInerney, left, and Shane O'Donnell during a training exercise. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Professor Niall Moyna has argued that the GAA has lost sight that the inter-county game is played by amateurs.

Louth senior football head coach and selector Moyna is part of GAA president Jarlath Burns’ amateur status committee and heads up one of its subgroups focusing on backroom team sizes and the time involved in playing Gaelic games at inter-county level.

The DCU physiologist academic is in the process of contacting players and the heads of athletic developments in inter-county set-ups as he considers recommendations to put forward.

The Monaghan native has already seen enough to believe that changes in behaviour from both teams especially in Gaelic football, which he bemoans as ‘probably the most boring game in the world to watch”, and the GAA in terms of how it devises its fixtures will be required.

“Number one, they are amateur players and the GPA (Gaelic Players Association) and others would have the players at heart. But all I keep hearing about is ‘they train like professionals’. Well, maybe they train like professionals but they certainly don’t recover like professionals.

“Professionals don’t go to train after a day’s work and they don’t get up at 6am to go to work the morning after that session the night before and then maybe do another session that evening.

“It’s a sort of a runaway train. With all the strength work they’re doing, I don’t see any evidence that shows it’s reducing injuries. Maybe it has but I don’t see any evidence.

“The game itself is appalling, especially compared to hurling. But I think the demand on amateur players, it’s breaking every rule when it comes to the principles of training, like training after a full day’s work. How do we know they’re properly hydrated and received appropriate nutrition?

“A Manchester City player, a professional soccer player goes into a special bedroom temperature-controlled, pressure-controlled, you name it and they get the appropriate sleep on a pillow that’s designed for each player. That’s professionalism.

“But to ask amateur players to put in 40 hours a week? That’s a full week’s work. That’s not sustainable and the biggest issue we know is that it’s already percolated to the club game.” 

Burns has previously suggested the idea of capping the number of training sessions and Moyna is of the same mind. 

“It needs to be radically revised. One of the things I will probably be pushing for is a limit on the number of hours a team can meet collectively in a week.

“The other thing, the GAA can’t talk out of both sides of its mouth. After the National League, every player needs a minimum of two weeks of low training and then a week after that to prepare for the game. They can’t have it both ways and I’ve told them this and they will have to look seriously at fixtures.

“There are going to be challenge games galore now that the preseason competitions are gone but maybe there isn’t as much pressure attached to them games, they won’t be as competitive and you can play them when you want. We’ll see.” 

Moyna doesn’t have much difficulty with the game-load faced by players in the inter-county window. It’s in training where everybody is keen to have their spake that he sees the problem for players but also the game of Gaelic football.

“I’ve no issues with games. I wish there was far less training and I would reduce the amount of gym time by 35% to start with. And that we maximise the time on the field. The game is called football and it’s so far removed from its genesis.

“The size of backroom teams now, everyone is trying to justify themselves and maybe we’re doing more training that we need to do. The aerobic fitness of players hasn’t really improved that much. 

"In fact, I don’t think you need a high level of aerobic fitness because there isn’t as much need for individual defensive work with 15 behind the ball, just big, strong men walloping each other.

“I just think we’ve lost sight of the fact they’re amateurs. In the 1980s, they were training two nights a week with the game at the weekend. The players weren’t in the physical shape they are now but if you try and tell me Gaelic football is a better game, you’re wrong. 

"Maybe it’s more skilful and the players are better one to 15, but it’s not manifesting itself on the pitch because it’s probably the most boring game in the world to watch.”