Hardship fund grant made available

By Niall Gartland

THE Ulster GAA has welcomed the news that hardship fund grants of up to £2,000 are set to become available to clubs by the Stormont Executive – but there is some concern about what happens to the counties outside the jurisdiction.

Armagh legend John McEntee – who currently manages Clontibret – tweeted yesterday that “these measures are of no use to Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal. Ulster GAA will need to develop support packages for these counties,” and it remains to be seen whether the Irish Government will follow suit with a similar package.

The £500,000 hardship fund launched for the sports sector by Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey earlier in the week with the aim of helping essential costs over the next three months within clubs, but there is still much concern that the Stormont Executive has thus far refused to recognise sports clubs in the small business rates relief scheme.

Meanwhile, the GAA has confirmed that the All-Ireland intercounty championships are “highly unlikely” to begin before the month of July,

The association has also revealed that it intends to complete the Allianz National League whenever the action does throw-in again, which will be of particular interest to Ulster counties like Fermanagh, Down and Armagh, who faced crunch league ties before the present hiatus.

The GAA is set to host a remote special congress on Friday which will effectively make it easier in the short-term to make decisions on the re-scheduling of the calender, but all will be contingent on the Government’s guidelines on the hosting of mass gathering events.

Of course, the GAA is hardly alone in all this and there’s major uncertainty about when sporting action on the whole will get up and running again.

There’s speculation that horse racing could take place behind closed doors as early as next month, while the PGA tour is earmarked to return in the middle of June.

In soccer, the Premier League shareholders issued a recent statement that it will only return and that the 2019/20 season “will only return when it is safe and appropriate to do so,” but it’s worth noting that Germnay’s Bundesliga is aiming for an early May return.