The discussion paper identifies two areas which the Ard Stiúrthóir says the GAA has, as yet, failed to address, namely the issues of player overtraining and burnout, and the presence of a fixtures calendar that does not provide club players with a fair schedule of matches.
“Solutions that will address the problems of player overtraining and burnout and of fixtures scheduling are available to the Association,” notes Duffy in the introduction to the report.
“That we have failed to make adequate progress in the past is due to a combination of factors, notably a failure to implement decisions taken, reversing decisions already taken, not properly engaging with agreed initiatives, and an unwillingness to change existing competition structures.
“Yet if we care about the welfare of our players, as we claim to do, and if we want to provide our club players with a fair and meaningful schedule of fixtures, as we claim we wish to do, then we can no longer simply talk about addressing these issues. The time has come to take decisive action.”
If we care about the welfare of our players, as we claim to do, and if we want to provide our club players with a fair and meaningful schedule of fixtures, as we claim we wish to do, then we can no longer simply talk about addressing these issues.
Páraic Duffy 03/11/2015 Visit GAA.ie to view the discussion paper in full
By Sinéad Breen Donegal PRO Tue 3rd Nov
