KEVIN CASSIDY: Intercounty training needs curbed

HAPPY New Year to you all. Normally at this time of year we are going out to see McKenna Cup games and a lot of the talk this week has been around why those competitions have been shelved.

I understand the logic behind the thought, and we will get into that a little later, but I think this year, especially with the new rules coming in these competitions should have been played.

Players , coaches, managers and supporters alike are all going to struggle with these new rules for a little while. If we had the opportunity to go and see a few games in January and let the players play a few competitive games, then I think it would speed the process up of everyone getting a grip on them a lot earlier.

I had a conversation with someone recently, chatting about the crowd that would be in Ballybofey if Donegal were to play Derry or Tyrone in a McKenna Cup game.

The place would be rammed as everyone just wants to see what these new rules will look like in the flesh.

Now to the reason behind the competitions not taking place. The GPA have done a lot of wonderful work over the last number of years around player welfare etc and they pushed the agenda of getting a window where inter-county players would have a break.

That idea in theory is great if that was ever going to happen. The problem is that there is no way that all the county managers are going to allow the players that time off.

Not alone were teams back before the official start date, but they were back months before that preparing for the new season so unless this is going to be policed heavily, then it’s a complete waste of time.

We do not have competitive McKenna Cup games this year. However, all the Ulster teams are travelling all over Ireland playing challenge games behind closed doors so it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

There has been talk this week about some counties playing up to three matches in one week, so, how on earth is that stacking up alongside the GPA’s fight for more downtime.

Let’s move this to the players’ perspective and give you an insight into where they are coming from.

Take it from me, players want to be playing games at this time of year. They do not want a break as they would rather play a game than train.

The issue from a player’s point of view and from a burnout point of view is the slogging that has been going on since September.

This sort of start date is the real issue here and if players were guaranteed even September and October off from county set-ups then I think everyone would be happy with that.

I think once you move into December and January time of year, no team is going to sit idle because in reality that’s the time you have to start getting your body ready and I have no issue with that.

If we are going to fight for a closed period for the players, then September, October and November are the months to do that.

This should be easily policed because county boards know exactly when the teams are training because of food etc being provided.e

So, if the GPA are serious about this, then they should back off the pre-season competitions and really focus on those teams training at that time of the year.

I fully understand that some players play club football well into September and October, but club football and county training are two completely different animals.

For anyone that is involved with the county panels, if they have a clean break all the way to December then this wouldn’t be an issue.

By removing these pre-season competitions, the only people you are really punishing is the spectators because, in reality, we are the only ones who are being denied the opportunity to see games because these games, like I said, are taking place behind closed doors anyway.

We all look ahead with great excitement to the start date of the National League, but, as previously mentioned, it could be well into round four or five before we all get a hang of things this year.