MÁIRE TREASA NÍ CHEALLAIGH: Easing the return

USUALLY at this time of year, GAA journalists are squabbling about All-Star awards and ‘rediscovering’ the joys of the club championship.

However, 2024 has given us much more to talk about thanks to the proposed new rules, the managerial merry-go-round and the biggest news of all: the return of Michael Murphy to a Donegal jersey. A brave move. He’s now 35 years old. He’s been out of the inter-county game for two years. He captained his county to All-Ireland victory and he has five Ulster Championship medals in his back pocket. He has nothing to prove.

Maybe it’s the smartest move ever made in Gaelic games, which is a big call considering Murphy had his best playing days under the craftiest of them all, Jim McGuinness. There’s no doubt that McGuinness changed the game but not everyone would agree for the better. Now, it appears the rules will be tweaked (incidentally Murphy was one of the architects of these rules on the Football Review Committee so perhaps there is a smarter man in Donegal than McGuinness) which might suit a big man, a talented footballer and shot taker like Murphy. The long ball might soon be heading to Murphy who hopefully will be standing dangerously near the edge of the opposition square.

You’d wonder if there’s a sense of unfinished business somewhere within Michael Murphy. He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t second guess himself during the decision-making process. Would he be up the pace after being away from elite training for two years? Why was he doing it? Did he really want to do it? What if he tarnished his legacy? Did he have the time or the grá for it anymore?

This is where we mere mortals aren’t that different to the Michael Murphys of the world. Returning to any kind of sport after any kind of break, for any kind of reason is physically and psychologically daunting.

The recent Olympic Games in Paris feel like a distant memory now. For the first time in modern Olympic history, they had an equal number of male and female athletes, with a new initiative called MOMentum assisting athletes who are also mothers deal with the challenges of family planning and sporting careers.

Most of us won’t ever be competing in the Olympics, but many women face the decision of whether she’ll return to her sport after she has a baby. Most don’t. Female athletes generally have to choose between sport or starting a family. More recently, male players are having to make similar decisions thanks to the way life is today.

Women are working too. People are commuting longer journeys. Bills have to be paid. Children have to be put to bed. It’s harder to make time for something like Gaelic football.

The research around return to play for men and women after a baby isn’t particularly strong. Most studies say that women can return to physical activity around six weeks after the arrival of her newborn but very few mention the importance of mental health.

Or the mental and physical health of the father, which can also be affected.

We never talk about that. We’re not very good at smoothing the pathways back to sport for anyone who’s left it, for any reason.

We’re extremely bad at helping someone back when they’re struggling. Be it due to a weak pelvic floor post-pregnancy, or someone who’s struggling to fit everything into a busy week.

Sport is often the first thing we dump, even though out of all our obligations, it’s the one thing most likely to offer us long-term health and social benefits.

Perhaps it’s time that we realised that we need to offer clearer pathways for people to get back to what they once loved doing. The LGFA has made great strides with their Gaelic4Mothers & Others initiative. They’ve created an environment where women can play football in a social manner, organising blitzes and other events that encourage women back onto the fields.

There’s good reasons for this. With the right support, we know that more than half will return to their pre-pregnancy levels and some will be even better. GAA for Lads & Dads is catching up.

This will only have positive outcomes on us all, but we need to give this the resources it deserves. Most of us will spend a lot longer not playing Gaelic games, than playing. No matter the level.

It’s only right that all of us, from Michael Murphy, to the woman with the five month old baby gets the opportunity to play for as long as they want to.