THE GAA's National Leagues are likely to be pushed back this week – but the Association insists it is still putting 'club first' with its scheduling plans.
Indeed Director of Communications Alan Milton points out that the GAA is set for another "massive financial hit" due to the probability of limited crowds - at best - allowed at inter-county matches in 2021.
The truncated Football and Hurling Leagues are due to begin at the end of February but Milton accepted that "deferment looks inevitable" because of the timeframe in which teams are allowed to train collectively in preparation. The GAA has ruled out a return to such training before next month.
"It's not cast iron, we're waiting to hear what the government in the south says, but I can't see how a start of the Leagues for the end of February is feasible," acknowledged Milton.
"You've got to give lads approximately four weeks to get ready and we're right up against that deadline, at least four weeks you could argue.
"Look, if it went into mid-March [for the Leagues to start] we've a contingency there, and you can rest assured that the Games [Adminstration] Department have been scheming away with the various permutations, as they have been since last March."
However, even if inter-county GAA gets going again in March, followed by the Championships, the Association will once more suffer huge losses of income due to restrictions on attendances.
The higher levels of Covid-19 related restrictions meant that there were no inter-county crowds when games resumed after the first lockdown in 2021, although some club matches had limited attendances during the summer and early autumn.
A repeat of 'club first' in the scheduling sense would suit the GAA better financially but Milton says: "We have gone out of our way to put the club before county at every juncture.
"The GAA is going to take a massive financial hit this year because it's the right thing to do to ensure that 100 per cent of our players, namely the club players, get to play games this year.
"Otherwise, we'd be looking to have the All-Ireland [Finals] in quarter four, when we could possibly have crowds back.
"But that would mean we mightn't be able to play any club games, because they can only play in Level 2 or 3, whereas the counties could be back now if we wanted them to be back: Level 5 is permissible, look at the rugby [Pro14 matches have been taking place].
"We have no inkling when we'll be back at Levels 2 or 3. So you could have kept all this time and space to play club games – but because you're not in Level 2 or 3 you can't play them.
"Then you'd end up playing the county games [later in the year] which would leave the clubs high and dry."
There is scope for club games in the first half of the year even in a split-season, of course, as Milton made clear: "Until the government tells us the clubs can go back, we can't do anything about it, it's beyond our control.
"In Dublin, the leagues are played without county players. Once we get to that stage [of the government giving the go-ahead] there's no reason why individual counties can't make those calls for themselves."
