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GAA President John Horan has effectively ruled out a return to competitive action as long as social distancing measures remain in place in society.
At the peak of the ‘Sunday Game’, Horan said that the risks of Covid-19 infection involved in GAA clubs, players and members who gathered too early were too great and that is why the facility will remain closed until July 20 at the earliest.
Horan said the July 20 date could change if the image of public health changes, but “monitoring” the guidelines in the government’s roadmap, published last Friday, was not a responsibility the Association would place on its members. volunteers.
Horan said the GAA would be prepared to use the first two months of 2021 to finish a 2020 inter-county championship if it were to take place in October or November, but cast doubt on whether the 2020 Allianz leagues will now be completed.
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The president also confirmed the grim financial image that will see Croke Park, central and stadium level, lose between 25 and 30 million euros and with the club doors lost to the General Association of up to 50 million euros.
Horan said the GAA’s cautious approach was based on a determination not to make the facilities turn into groups and that social distancing protocols would be paramount.
“If social distancing is a priority to deal with this pandemic, I don’t know how we can play a contact sport and that is what Gaelic games are, a contact sport,” he said.
Horan said GAAs were initially caught off guard by details in the government’s published roadmap that allow the facility to open to groups of four on May 18, followed by contactless training on June 9.
“I think everyone was caught off guard on Friday night because no one knew what was coming. It gave everyone a little encouragement to feel like we were coming back.”
“We had to examine it and look at it closely and there was a concept where people had to come together in groups of four, but we felt that it couldn’t be organized by people in our clubs because our clubs are run by a load of good volunteers quality and for volunteers to take responsibility for making decisions with the police and organizing training within our facilities, we feel it would be too much for them.
“Since then, I have had contact with one or two club presidents who said ‘thank you for taking it from him’ because we were concerned about how we were going to monitor him at our facilities.
“We take our time, but I think we have made the right choice in this matter. I think people’s health and safety is the key to everything,” he said of the decision to remain closed for business.
“We will take our information from health authorities to see if it is safe and only if it is safe and when it is safe we will allow training and our games to start again.”
“Taking that information on board, we will make that decision and not bring it to the line. We will make that decision on an ongoing basis, we are on executive calls every day and we will continue to review and update to stay on top of things in the next few weeks. .
“Ultimately, there is a huge responsibility to do this right and if a club, be it a play area or whatever, became a group for the Covid 19 that would be a bad work day on our behalf and that it is one thing that we are very aware that none of our facilities become a cluster
“Our concern has to be the players on the field, their families and their coworkers. They are all amateurs and it is a hobby for everyone and I know they take it to a very serious level and have a very professional approach to but we cannot risk nothing.
“I would hate to think as an organization that we had made a decision that would have cost any family a member of their family.”
Horan reaffirmed the decision to launch the club’s action before the counties, stating that the overall decision will be based on contact, not the numbers involved.
“We feel quite comfortable saying that we are going to go first with the club game because it impacts the largest number of people. 98 percent of our games are club games, so if we play club games, it includes everyone because county players would have the opportunity to play for their clubs and that would have a major impact on all of Irish society.
“Then we can make the decision to return to the game between counties. It is a contact sport decision that will influence it, so if at the county or club level I don’t see an important distinction between the two, but the impact on the whole organization would be much bigger if we really got the clubs back. “
He said the GAA would not rule out testing players between counties, but believes it won’t be such a big problem by the time contact sport, in particular, the GAA is back again.
He also doesn’t watch games behind closed doors, suggesting that by the time the contact returns, large crowds will be back together anyway.
“I have a problem with the concept of ‘closed doors’ because if it is safe enough for players to be in close contact on the field, it will be safe enough to have a certain number of people in a meeting on the ground. We are fortunate as an organization to have such fantastic stadiums.
“Take Croke Park, 83,000 (82,300) is normal attendance, I’m sure we could safely attend Croke Park. The crowds that gather in that situation will probably come before we have sports contact.”
On finances, Horan said the situation was “very worrying” and “a serious situation.”
“We operate a financial profile with the money we receive, such as the 74 million euros that everything is recirculated. We do not participate in the construction of massive reserves as the organization progresses.”
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