Wexford hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald is calling for a return of the inter-county season before the club season returns…
The GAA’s President, John Horan, has already came out and said that the club matches will return before the inter-county season.
Current Wexford hurling manager and Clare native Davy Fitzgerald is calling for a re-think on this decision.
“I know the GAA wants a county championship and we want the same thing. But everything is going from week to week and if the trend keeps going at the minute where the rate of infection is well down, and you have to hand it to all the people who have taken the regulations seriously. But we know the circumstance are there at the moment and we just can’t do it,” he said to The Irish Times.
“To to manage the county scene is easier than to manage the clubs. We know that there are tens of thousands of club members so I don’t think we should start with the clubs first. It would be a lot easier to monitor the county scene but there’s a lot of talking still to be done.”
While he notes that he does not have a preference, he believes it’s logical that the inter-county season returns before the club. Fitzgerald, who is also involved with his club team Sixmilebridge, is aware of the unique circumstances facing both clubs and counties amidst the virus.
“This all needs more thinking. While I don’t have a preference which goes first, just being logical about the whole thing, the club players are not even back training, while inter-county players have been training since December.”
“I know the club scene also being involved with my own club, Sixmilebridge. I also realise the health issues involved in arriving at a decision. I have my own health problems but once there’s a return to action I will be there. For the players it’s a personal decision, no pressure will be applied.”
He believes that there needs to be a re-think with the Government’s guidelines in mind and argues that people need social interaction, even in smaller training groups, for their mental health too.
“Whatever about games, it’s important to have players back exercising once they stay within the Government guidelines. I’m hopeful this will happen for it’s important to have people exercise. Should there be no games during the summer, just fine, then drop down to groups of four, which would be important. That would give the players an option, the fact they could do stuff in fours, once they stay within the guidelines, should be encouraged, for it would be good for their mental health.
“The numbers are now dropping each day, been very low right now. There are two sides to this. Do we want to keep living our own lives nervously or do we want to get back out there.”
