CONNACHT CONVENTION:CONNACHT COUNCIL secretary John Prenty has accused counties of ignoring the GAA's new rules on countering burn-out amongst players. The comments are made in his report to next week's provincial convention.

A year ago the GAA decided at special congress to introduce a close-season for intercounty games, prohibiting collective training in the months of November and December.

Prenty questions, however, the observance of these rules.

“Over the past number of years various attempts have been made to decrease the incidents of burnout for our young elite players. Among the positive proposals passed has been an attempt to regulate the playing and training season for our players.

“Are there any field games in the world where players train so much to play so little?

“The closed season for senior players in November and December and the curtailment of the commencement of under-21 training to January 1st and minor training to March 1st, was brought in following detailed examination of burnout by some of the leading medical experts involved in our games.

“After three months of the new arrangements we need to ask ourselves has the idea worked and have counties observed the rules.

“Who have been the main beneficiaries? I think it is fair to say a coach and four has been driven through the regulations and every trick in the book has been used to camouflage what is going on.

“It is hard to understand how counties went to Special Congress and voted almost unanimously to bring in the closed season and then ignore what was passed.

“Maybe the assertion that expenses could not be paid during the closed season was the overriding factor in the yes vote. If I were naive I would think that there have not been any breaches in Connacht, but I’m not naive.”

Prenty expresses support for the experimental disciplinary rules, which he believes can remove “the cancer of cynical fouling” and compliments the committee chaired by Liam O’Neill, which devised and piloted through the suggested changes.

“Over the past couple of months the committee charged with the task of suggesting changes to our disciplinary playing rules has done tremendous work in highlighting the changes necessary to make our games safer to play and more attractive to watch.

“I have no doubt that the experiments are working and if implemented will see the cancer of cynical fouling, in particular, being removed from our games. Our choice at Congress is simply, do we want a foul-ridden cynical game or one where everybody understands the rules and where all offences are properly categorised.”

He also suggests clubs undertaking development work during the recession should be allowed apply for retrospective funding when it becomes available again.

Outlining his concerns over the “spectre of emigration”, Prenty says that infrastructural work on GAA facilities could help provide community schemes to counter emigration and the threat to the continued existence of rural clubs.

“However, the recent cutbacks in lottery funding have placed some of our units’ plans on hold due to the financial difficulties that would accrue due to loss of lottery funds. If a commitment could be given by the Government that, when the funding is available again, they would consider funding projects which had already commenced it would lead to greater confidence for our units in planning projects.”