Club feedback important in fixtures process – McGrath

By Ronan Scott

DONEGAL county chairman Mick McGrath said that the board wants to make sure clubs are involved in the structure of the championship, however he says that not everyone will be happy with the changes.

Last Friday the GAA announced plans for a return to action that outlined an 11-week period for club action while the county season will take place in October and November.

Chairman McGrath said: “It is welcome to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It has given everyone belief that there is going to be some form of a season.

“We had no idea that it was going to happen. Now there is a target.

“I know that since this has started we knew that without a reduction in the spread of Covid that we weren’t going to see any movement. There was a majority of people who moved quickly to help those that were in need.

“They have heeded the restrictions that have come from the health board.”

County boards now must plan the next step, and put together proposals for each of their championships.

In Donegal’s case, that means looking at the time-frame and considering what sort of competition they can run off.

McGrath said: “It really is only nine weeks, not 11. We have to get the CCC committees to look at what options are available. They have to cut their cloth to fit. That is not going to be an easy task.

“Clubs have got to understand that we are working with short season. We have to look at a system that is going to work with our minor and senior championships.”

The Donegal chairman did say that it was important the clubs would have their say in the process.

“We are due to meet the clubs in the next month,” he said.

“We will listen to what they say and take their feedback.

“We have to be prepared for any eventuality. We will work with whatever restrictions are in place but we have to give the clubs a fair crack at the whip. If there are procedures that are in place that we have to follow we will follow them.”

At the moment, there are no hard and fast dates of when inter-county action will be played. For McGrath, that was an issue, as he said county boards would have to wait for the inter-county dates and then organise their club competitions based on those so there is no potential overlap.

“I think we know we can’t play past September 17 if they are starting the All-Ireland series on October 17. There is no point having a club season running past that. We are seeking confirmation on that over the next few weeks. We need to see the dates that they are talking about and then we will work accordingly.”

On the matter of attendance at matches, and how that will work, it was difficult for McGrath to answer.

He said any predictions would be foolish, and that they had to wait to see what the future would bring.

“It is all dependent on whether we have a second wave of cases which would bring in more restrictions.

“There is a huge ‘don’t know’ factor there as to whether people will come out to watch games. Will someone from south Donegal go to a game in north Donegal? They may not. If we get as much improvement in the last few months then things would be better.”