GAA Response to Coronavirus

[Estimator]

No inter-county fixtures before October.

[rodney trotter]

Second wave of the Virus in Europe predicted for September so doubt there will be GAA  until well into 2021.

[Rossfan]

If you have to social distance at work, on public transport, in shops etc etc etc to help the Health Services why would it be ok for hundreds of thousands of young folks to set aside social distancing to play contact sports?

You might and it's just might be able to control things in dressing rooms, subs benches etc but when the game gets going and players get into close quarters puffing and panting over each other etc....
No to mention feckin Rugby with 25 lads lying in a heap on top of each other for 90% of the game and then them scrum yokes.
I can't see any Gaelic games this year or amateur and grass roots rugby or soccer either.

[Maroon Manc]

Lets hope there's a huge improvement in the method of testing by September otherwise there's going to be no championship. Players and management won't be able to isolate themselves for a couple of months like the premiership players can.

Players would need to be tested before every training session and match for games to go ahead, that isn't looking likely now but it can all change in a few months.

[Blowitupref]

If the GAA Championship is played later this year its clear those at the top sound determined to have supporters at matches. Question I'd ask if there is a need to social distance in the stand/terrace then how is it safe for players to play a contact sport?

https://mobile.twitter.com/VirginMediaNews/status/1258087132083732480

[Itchy]

Colm O Rourke talking utter shite on TV3 in interview with Matt Cooper tonight. GAA should start up again in counties with low levels of Covid. Great the way this pandemic respects borders. Mother of god this man was on the show in his capacity as a school principal

[rodney trotter]

One of the GPS after confirming to Matt Cooper that October return date would be overly optimistic.
Does O Rourke not listen to what medical experts say, and not just what he wants. His article last Sunday was poor in the Indo

[Milltown Row2]

Surely if the PL can get back to playing games in June (apparently) then having a championship in October should be a reality?

[sid waddell]

I read there a few days ago that the Premier League would need 2,000 tests for each round of 10 fixtures.

For inter-county GAA, you'd need more than that. I don't realisticallly see how it's feasible without a vaccine or at the very least a South Korea style testing regime which almost completely suppresses the virus. Even then you're looking at behind closed doors games or at best drastically reduced attendances.

That said, I wouldn't write off anything just yet. A winter All-Ireland championship would be a great novelty if it was possible in public health terms. Games could be arranged at short notice with a knockout format - and to hell with training. It would be a genuine leveller.

[Eire90]

A winter championship would be good as a novelty games under floodlights.

[Captain Obvious]

I read there a few days ago that the Premier League would need 2,000 tests for each round of 10 fixtures.

For inter-county GAA, you'd need more than that. I don't realisticallly see how it's feasible without a vaccine or at the very least a South Korea style testing regime which almost completely suppresses the virus. Even then you're looking at behind closed doors games or at best drastically reduced attendances.

That said, I wouldn't write off anything just yet. A winter All-Ireland championship would be a great novelty if it was possible in public health terms. Games could be arranged at short notice with a knockout format - and to hell with training. It would be a genuine leveller.

The sport science lads will lay an egg reading that comment.

[Capt Pat]

The bundesliga is going to kick off on the 15th of May but we have  to wait until October for a  behind closed doors game of hurling. It doesn't seem right. Surely GAA can return sooner.

[Taylor]

The bundesliga is going to kick off on the 15th of May but we have  to wait until October for a  behind closed doors game of hurling. It doesn't seem right. Surely GAA can return sooner.

There is a huge difference between an amateur & professional game though.

Professional players can afford to isolate in between games - imagine telling every GAA player that the need to isolate between games?

And as a player would I want to risk my health & the health of my family instead of waiting until next year or the virus is supressed/vaccine found?

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaa-happy-to-play-the-long-game-and-observe-others-1.4246797

The committee established by the GAA to advise on return-to play protocols after the Covid-19 lockdown, is expected to file its first report quite quickly. This emerged after Wednesday's response by the association to last Friday's Government plan for exiting the pandemic restrictions.

Chaired by Shay Bannon, who also chairs the association's standing committee on Health and Safety, the committee's initial remit will be threefold: what is required for the GAA to sanction a return to training, then a return to play and also for its venues to be opened and used.

Although it is set out in diplomatic terms and expresses the hope that club and county competitions can take place this year, Wednesday's statement firmly pushes back against the suggestion last week by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that All-Irelands could be played as early as August or September.

There will be no intercounty activity before October at the earliest, a conclusion that was obvious even last week when reading between the lines of the ongoing requirement for social distancing in the Government blueprint – a point made in the statement, which says that the association will be seeking clarification of "the challenge of social distancing in contact sport".

Croke Park sources also make the point that the GAA is in no hurry about this. Although its finances are extremely undermined by the cessation of all fixtures, it doesn't have the operational pressure of having to pay players and can wait to monitor how other sports manage their resumption of on-field activities and any lessons that arise.

Learn from others

"Even if we're just two weeks behind," was the view, "we can learn from others' experiences."

[Rossfan]

The bundesliga is going to kick off on the 15th of May but we have  to wait until October for a  behind closed doors game of hurling. It doesn't seem right. Surely GAA can return sooner.

There is a huge difference between an amateur & professional game though.

Professional players can afford to isolate in between games - imagine telling every GAA player that the need to isolate between games?

And as a player would I want to risk my health & the health of my family instead of waiting until next year or the virus is supressed/vaccine found?

Exactly.