Row in Mayo LGFA

Started by Seany, July 11, 2018, 08:57:59 AM

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Itchy

Quote from: ballinaman on September 18, 2018, 08:24:01 AM
Odd statement by mayo ladies this morning. They wanted to make clear that it wasn't player selection that caused them to walk but then gave no other reason for walking apart from poor or insulting feedback for not making team/match day squad .

Example - Manager told one player she was lazy - maybe she was
Example - Manager told one player she wasnt committed but she missed only 1 training - Well committed is more than just turning up at training. You can be committed or not committed in a match or at training.

Again, came across like they felt they were losing the battle and had to say something. In the end they said nothing that no player hasn't heard at one time or another from a manager. Clearly this was sour grapes from some players who felt entitled to start on a team.

Jinxy

'The whole experience had a significant impact on our mental health' - Departed Mayo players release strong statement

In a strong statement released this morning, the 12 players and two of the management team who left the panel said the "whole experience had a significant impact on their mental health".

The statement claimed:

The players all left because of player welfare issues
Whole experience had a significant impact on their mental health
It was not due to selection issues nor to one or two players
Reasons for leaving were related to player welfare issues that were personal, and were sensitive
A number of players but most notably our captain Sarah Tierney has endured an extremely difficult relationship with the Mayo manager over the 2018 season
Lack of communication, being undermined, intimidated, feeling isolated and eventually helpless in the entire situation
Mediation, which was another opportunity for engagement and agreement (even to disagree) was hindered by what we believe was an unfair process.


https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/ladies-football/the-whole-experience-had-a-significant-impact-on-our-mental-health-departed-mayo-players-release-strong-statement-37327872.html

This is going down a seriously ill-advised and disappointing road now.
If you were any use you'd be playing.

thebackbar1

in the documentary about Cora, she states "our club was won a lot, so we set the tone, well the others haven't won anything"  did i pick that up right ? what was the context of that statement ?

JoG2

Quote from: Never beat the deeler on September 18, 2018, 09:40:31 AM
Was there a press conference? Anyone got a link to video / audio?

Cheers

Crazy stuff, this will have to come to a head at same stage. There's no way PL and his management team will not respond to this:

"issues that were personal, and were sensitive"

"being undermined, intimidated, feeling isolated and eventually helpless"

The whole experience had a significant impact on our mental health

"extremely difficult relationship"

"'unhealthy' and 'unsafe' and accept, and take responsibility for the implications of this language but for us, these are relevant terms"

"Specifically, a number of players but most notably our captain Sarah Tierney has endured an extremely difficult relationship with the Mayo manager over the 2018 season."
- Why single out 1 player , the captain?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We have remained silent until now and appreciate that this left a space for speculation and rumour; we take responsibility for that," the statement released on Tuesday morning by the players read.

"We had always hoped that our story would come out in a respectful, private setting but at this stage feel that we have no choice but to represent ourselves to ease our own conscience and to hopefully close the public discourse on this matter.

"Firstly, we want to be clear that regardless of timing or language or delivery of the message to leave the Mayo set up, all fourteen of us can categorically state that we left for the same reasons.

"These reasons were in relation to player welfare issues that we witnessed or experienced in our time with the set up. We would like to be clear to everyone that these were not due to selection issues nor to one or two players.

"To suggest that any player would encourage or expect a team mate to leave a panel because they were not on a starting fifteen, or indeed, that a player would leave because of such a request, is hugely disrespectful to us all as athletes and people.

"Secondly," the statement continues, "our reasons for stepping away from the Mayo panel were related to player welfare issues that were personal, and were sensitive.

"Specifically, a number of players but most notably our captain Sarah Tierney has endured an extremely difficult relationship with the Mayo manager over the 2018 season.

"Ultimately our issues related to a lack of communication, being undermined, intimidated, feeling isolated and eventually helpless in the entire situation.

"The whole experience had a significant impact on our mental health.  We used the terms 'unhealthy' and 'unsafe' and accept, and take responsibility for the implications of this language but for us, these are relevant terms and stepping away was the right decision."

The statement also responds to manager Peter Leahy's comments on the situation claiming: "Our issues were broader and deeper and dismissing them as 'feelings' is extremely unhelpful and careless.

"We made a decision for ourselves, as amateur players, who absolutely love our sport, to step away from it. This decision was not taken lightly and our intention was never to cause upset for anyone rather to protect the well-being of each other.

"We appreciate that not every player may have experienced or witnessed these issues and also we appreciate that a number of us did not address these fully with the rest of the Mayo panel."

You can read the full statement provided below.

Statement in Full

To begin we want to acknowledge what a great day Sunday was for ladies football; the crowd, standard of football and we offer congratulations to all six teams involved. 

We as a group of fourteen people, the twelve players and two members of management who stepped away from the Mayo senior ladies set up in July 2018 would like to address the issues around our actions.

We have remained silent until now and appreciate that this left a space for speculation and rumour; we take responsibility for that. We had always hoped that our story would come out in a respectful, private setting but at this stage feel that we have no choice but to represent ourselves to ease our own conscience and to hopefully close the public discourse on this matter.

Firstly, we want to be clear that regardless of timing or language or delivery of the message to leave the Mayo set up, all fourteen of us can categorically state that we left for the same reasons.

These reasons were in relation to player welfare issues that we witnessed or experienced in our time with the set up. We would like to be clear to everyone that these were not due to selection issues nor to one or two players.

Everyone involved in county panels, including us twelve players, are hugely competitive and of course want to be playing on the starting fifteen. However, to suggest that any player would encourage or expect a team mate to leave a panel because they were not on a starting fifteen, or indeed, that a player would leave because of such a request, is hugely disrespectful to us all as athletes and people.   

Secondly, our reasons for stepping away from the Mayo panel were related to player welfare issues that were personal, and were sensitive.

Specifically, a number of players but most notably our captain Sarah Tierney has endured an extremely difficult relationship with the Mayo manager over the 2018 season.

Ultimately our issues related to a lack of communication, being undermined, intimidated, feeling isolated and eventually helpless in the entire situation.

The whole experience had a significant impact on our mental health.  We used the terms 'unhealthy' and 'unsafe' and accept, and take responsibility for the implications of this language but for us, these are relevant terms and stepping away was the right decision.

We will be judged for our decision but this was extremely important to us and something we had to take a stand on.

There is now widespread acceptance that player welfare is much more than having a physio, proper strength and conditioning, good pitches. We fought long enough for these basic conditions, and thankfully over the last few years, we have not had an issue with them – and equally in 2018 we had a good set up.

Our issues were broader and deeper and dismissing them as 'feelings' is extremely unhelpful and careless.  We made a decision for ourselves, as amateur players, who absolutely love our sport, to step away from it. This decision was not taken lightly and our intention was never to cause upset for anyone rather to protect the well-being of each other.

We appreciate that not every player may have experienced or witnessed these issues and also we appreciate that a number of us did not address these fully with the rest of the Mayo panel.

Despite this, many of the remaining panel did attend a players meeting on Saturday July 7th and did agree that there were issues at play.

Secondly, an opportunity for all of the departed players and current players to sit down and discuss the situation on Sunday July 8th was ultimately pulled by the county board and others.  In addition, mediation, which was another opportunity for engagement and agreement (even to disagree) was hindered by what we believe was an unfair process.

At this point, we are completely disillusioned and our attempts to remain dignified after such a significant decision have been undermined. When we raised our issues they were dismissed, when mediation failed we were let go and now we feel we are being portrayed as weak, hysterical, hyper sensitive people when in reality we made a choice for ourselves, and felt strong enough to do so.

What does the reaction say to people who want to ever speak up, who ever want to raise an issue that this is how we handle it? We must be able to tell all players that their opinions, their feelings and their experiences matter.

We must be able to listen when they have a problem with structures in place. We must not publicly shame them or indeed ban them from doing what they love before we hear what they have to say properly and before we consider player welfare in its truest sense. 

We do appreciate that all parties have been affected, especially our fellow team-mates.  They have expressed this and now we have too.

One of the saddest outcomes of the whole thing is that there has been a serious strain put on friendships.  We were within our rights to walk away from something that we felt was wrong and whatever people may ultimately think, we were pushed to a stage where the right option, the healthy option, was to remove ourselves.

Finally, we have been and will continue to be proud Mayo people. We have been privileged and honoured to represent Mayo and always will only want the best and have the highest expectations for anyone who takes to the field in a Mayo jersey.

We hope this answers the questions which have been in the public sphere and we as a group hope that this will bring an end to a very tough time in all our lives.  We do not wish to comment any further.

SIGNED

Sarah Tierney

Fiona McHale

Denise McDonagh

Shauna Howley

Marie Corbett

Cora Staunton

Elaine Murphy

Doireann Hughes

Martha Carter

Amy Dowling

Saoirse Walsh

Sadbh Larkin

Orla Conlon

Michael McHale

mick999

Audio clips on OFF THE BALL

https://twitter.com/offtheball/status/1041967502513848320

From 5 Mins and then from 86 mins onwards

pbat

Is Serena Williams managing the PR for the 12.

Maroon Manc

Their a joke, is that it?

They've been used to having their own way for far too long and not used to someone standing up to them and they've had a meltdown. There was an interview with Cora Staunton about 5/6 years ago on Setanta I think it was, don't think i've ever seen any sportsperson come across as so arrogant.

iorras

bingo buzzwords to find out who the victim is; "mental health" check, "feelings" check, "tears" check. Right no need to look any further into this says the media, bastarding men at it again. Crucifixion? First turn on the left, one cross each.

Tom Doodle, is that you Peter? :) Don't resign now whatever you do. F*ck them, pick a panel of ladies who put the county first and let the rest of them head off into the sunset. Best thing to do now is start preparing for next year and forget about that gang irrespective of how talented some of them might be.

haranguerer

Very cynical to use (as it appears to me) mental health issues in this way.


macdanger2

Did all the players who left sign the statement? There were some non-carnacon players who left and it was reported at the time that they were leaving for different reasons to the others

haranguerer

The whole thing is mortifying for them. They're making a holy show of themselves

larryin89

Throw in the awl mental health there Cora good maneen
Walk-in down mchale rd , sun out, summers day , game day . That's all .

RadioGAAGAA

Quote from: haranguerer on September 18, 2018, 10:06:24 AM
Very cynical to use (as it appears to me) mental health issues in this way.

It really is.

Undermines those that do have real and serious mental health problems which need to be taken seriously when the affected person plucks up the confidence to reach out for help - and the affected person needs to know they would be taken seriously.

Out west, I'd fear that today, in someone vulnerable, their confidence in confiding in anyone else is eroded a little by these charlatans cynically abuse the conditions for their own ends.
i usse an speelchekor

Never beat the deeler

Hasta la victoria siempre

Jinxy

The beauty of the 'mental health' angle in this instance is that it's entirely subjective.
You can't question the veracity of such a claim or you will be torn asunder in the court of public opinion.
I can see how this will develop from here.
The majority of people discussing sport online are men.
A lot of the discussion surrounding this will be along the lines of, 'Are they for real?'
'FEMINIST' (as opposed to feminist) types, who only take an interest in ladies gaelic football once a year to lament the fact that it's still called 'ladies' football, will accuse them of misogyny, bullying etc. and before long we have a perfect storm where actual facts simply will not matter.

It brings to mind a recent article by friend of the board Ewan Mackenna, regarding the Serena Williams affair.
His opinion was (correctly in my view) that it wasn't equal treatment Serena wanted, it was special treatment.
This feels the same to me, but no male journalist (other than Ewan probably) will want to touch this story with a barge-pole.
At least not in any serious way which challenges the reasons for leaving given in the players' statement.
If you were any use you'd be playing.