Yesterday the Galway U21 A County f'ball final was concluded & congrats to Corofin who won. A competition that players started training for in January, commenced on Feburary 8th & finished December 20th. Corofin played 5 games from Feb 8th to May 3rd & then waited 7 months for the final. Barna played their first game on Feb 8th & had to wait 9 months for the second game, then played 2 games in 9 days & the waited another 8 weeks for the final. The GAA & all its media spin doctors talk about Player Burnout, no danger of that in Galway as players are now subject to a new phenomenon known as Player Boredout !!!

Uimhir.a.3. (Galway) - Posts: 409 - 21/12/2014 09:27:30    1679658

Just a typo correction in case im picked up on it, " Corofin played 5 games between Feb 8th & May 10th not May 3rd as originally stated".

Uimhir.a.3. (Galway) - Posts: 409 - 21/12/2014 10:32:56    1679666

I agree.Way too much training for the amount matches played and consistency in the gaps between matches.The GAA need to act now.

The club championship and league schedule for each county be handed in to the GAA in January each year and if there are excessive changes to the schedule then the county gets thrown out of next years inter county season.

All club championships should be finished by the 3 week of October at the latest, and there should be no more than 2 weeks between matches for club players from May to September be they league or championship matches.

If county players can't play then the matches should go ahead without them.98% of players should not be dictated to by the small minority of inter county players.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 21/12/2014 15:54:34    1679681

agree with this.Player burnout is a myth. Majority club players waiting all summer to play club championship then play in muddy pitches in October/November.GPA are not too bothered with club players

HughHunt24 (Cork) - Posts: 841 - 05/02/2015 15:39:15    1690424

I agree with most of what has been said and would add that the GPA are very touchy which tells us all something about how this body is run. They are only interested in themselves and the guys at the top are well paid in this 'amateur' organisation of ours. Without the clubs and club players you would have no county players or indeed GPA so its about time someone, somewhere represented the grass roots of our association and I do not mean by any type of payment or expenses but by organising matches within counties so that players are playing all of their competitive matches between February and November.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 05/02/2015 16:14:46    1690438

Player burnout occurs for the top players aged between 18-21. Its also the age where the GAA loses 75% of their footballers.

Good player aged 19-20 might be playing U21 Club and County, Sigerson/interfirms (or both if he has a "part time" job), Senior club and Senior County - 5 teams - 35 games - 100 training sessions

Good 18yr old could might be playing minor club and county, schools, U21 club, senior club - 5 teams - 35 games - 100 training sessions

Average player 19-20 might play a bit of Junior and U21 club - might be 8 matches all year and 50 training sessions

A player playing for 5 teams at 19 will be well fed up at 27 or had a cruciate, 4-5 hamstring, 4-5 concussions, shoulder, 3-4 medial ligament and a broken collar bone by age 30. He will then need about an hour to get togged out with all the strapping and creams needed to keep him going.

Lad who was playing for two teams at 19 is playing basketball, soccer or doing ironman training from age 23 - 40.

Burnout doesn't apply to 90% of players only the top 10%.

Limit each player to 3 teams and the lad only playing 8 matches a year might get a few more and stick with it and even be a late developer. Kieran Donaghy and Ronan McGarrity being two classic example of lads who developed late. There could be many more in every county if game time was available to the late developer.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1105 - 05/02/2015 18:18:32    1690489

Just educate players to say NO end of, its amazing how many learn to say that once they've had a long stint on the physio's table or watching from sidelines.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4895 - 06/02/2015 08:36:20    1690585

Suffered player boredout when most of the team couldnt make a stag party when
1. it was arranged months before
2. the request went into the county board for match to be played on Friday way in advance, (to which the opposition agreed)
3. Some genius in the county board decided that common sense shouldnt be common and refused to change the fixture.

After that, I had had enough of playing and called it a day.

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 08/02/2015 21:04:51    1691428