THE GAA has degenerated into a training and coaching industry, and is no longer a games association, a leading administrator has claimed.
Tyrone county secretary Dominic McCaughey fears training and coaching regimes have risen to unacceptable levels and are placing too much strain on players.
“In 1884 this Association was founded to promote Gaelic games and pastimes. For the greater part of its history such promotion has been undertaken throughout this country, and more latterly across many of the world’s nations, by legions of voluntary workers, with an undoubted exceptional level of success.
“Most facets of Gaelic games have remained constant during the last 131 years but there have been minor and sometimes significant changes in the rules, formats and styles of play; sizes of teams have changed very little, as have the stature and physique of players,” he says in his annual report.
“Where the major transformation has occurred – and only in the last quarter of a century – has been in the coaching and training of players.
“Most of this has been worthwhile, beneficial and educational; some has been innovative and there can be no doubt that it has provided the Association with products that are highly marketable in the summer months.
“However the price that is being paid for this has become too great, as the Association can now easily be described as a training and coaching industry – not a games’ association.”
He suggests that the most adverse effects are being felt by club players.
“Some clubs commence ‘fitness-testing’ of their senior players in early December and start training in January – all for games commencing in mid-April.
Three/four collective training sessions per week with a requirement of two/three personal training sessions per week are now considered to be the norm. Early-morning sessions, lunchtime sessions and evening/night-time sessions are all standard fare.
“At the most basic level, of two training sessions per week over the period January to October – when official competitions have concluded for almost all teams – a senior club player will have endured a minimum of 80 training sessions and will have played in 16 games, a simple ratio of 5:1.
“For a team that enjoys league or championship success there is, of course, a greater number of games to be played together with a disproportionate increase in training sessions, resulting in an enhanced ratio of training to playing games.
“Many coaches do not seem to realise that talent can never be created by increasing the number of training sessions.”
McCaughey urges players to assume control of their destinies and lay down their own demands.
He believes they should send out a firm message to coaches that they are placing excessive strains on their squads.
“While it is acknowledged that some players are satisfied with this situation and are happy to use their membership of a panel to gain or maintain fitness only, many are beginning to ask whether this is what the Association should be about.
“If the great majority of players want to participate in games rather than in training sessions, it is they who should convey this message to the coaches or the managers; as a group or a panel, the players should be determining what they want for their team and from their Club, rather than allowing an individual coach or manager – often coming in from a neighbouring club or county – to tell them what is best for them.”
