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Increase in number of inter-county players seeking GPA assistance

There has been an increase in the number of inter-county players seeking GPA assistance. This has more than likely arisen from the recent Covid 19 pandemic.

As we reported earlier in the week there was a massive uptake in players getting assistance been it educational. life help or professional development with numbers going over 1,400. 629 players have contacted the GPA this year according to their report. 608 of these players are current players, with 21 former inter-county players. Neil McManus, current Antrim hurler said, “There has been a lot of negative stuff said and a rhetoric out there about the GPA for some time,”. “You’re not going to change peoples’ minds who think a certain way. But here’s the thing – there are inter-county players who are still with us today and that’s mainly down to the help they have received from the GPA. I don’t say that lightly”.

The GPA were also in the spotlight when they published the average salaries for it’s employees. The average salary was 65,000 euros. McManus also discussed the GPA and why it was viewed negatively by some individuals. He said,My own father is a dyed-in-the-wool GAA man and has held every possible position with Cushendall,”. The Cushendall man continued, “When Dad saw how the GPA helped me, it was then that he appreciated what they stand for”.

McManus stated that “everyone is entitled to their opinion” but he said that talk to people who are receiving GPA assistance to get the full story on what is going on.

Farrell sets Ireland target of winning Six Nations

Ireland rugby head coach Andy Farrell has set Ireland the target of winning the Six Nations which resumes in October. The Irish will face Italy and France on October 24th and 31st respectively.

Farrell has said that Ireland’s fate is at their own hands. Despite a poor World Cup losing to New Zealand in the quarter-finals, the side have progressed under Farrell. They beat Scotland and Wales, but failed in beating England. Eddie Jones’ side winning 24-12. The Grand Slam cannot be won this year as all teams lost games. So with two games to go Ireland are still in the mix to win a 4th title in 7 years. Ireland will need bonus point wins in their final two games.  England only have one game left against Italy where they are sure to rack up a big winning margin.

Speaking to reporters Farrell said, “We were gutted the competition didn’t keep rolling on. After a disappointing game against England, the only thing the boys wanted to do was get back on the horse against England. We had a great reflection week and we were brimming to go over to Paris and see what we could do”. Farrell said “destiny is in our own hands”. “All our lads are aware, I’ve been in contact with them, they know what is coming around the corner, from the inter-pro games to get selected and back into that Six Nations” he continued.

He was also asked about the upcoming 8 team competition which will run from November 8th to December 5th. As already mentioned this will include the Six Nations sides plus Japan and Fiji. These games will be broken into two pools of 4 teams and will act as a replacement for the Autumn international games. Farrell said, “We certainly will take it seriously. Any competition that you’re involved in, you want to win it. We’ll never shy away from that”. “What the tournament would bring, with all the big games that are going to happen, is that you would probably utilise a squad that is a little bit bigger than normal – simply because of the run of games, which is World Cup-esque. But we’ll roll with the punches and see where it takes us.”

Farrell was also about players James Lowe and Simon Zebo. On James Lowe, who is now qualified to play for Ireland due to the residence rule he said, “I think he’s been a great tonic for Irish rugby, he’s played some outstanding rugby over the last few years. Like all players, we’ll see how he comes back, whether he comes into form in the early part of the season”. In relation to Simon Zebo, he said that he will not be considered for selection until he returns to Ireland. He said, “The unwritten rule is there to protect Irish rugby. I’m all for that. If Simon Zebo, like anyone else, came back into Ireland, and was at the top of his game, then, knowing the type of form that Zeebs can bring, we’d look at him like everyone else.”

Ireland’s first game in the resumed Six Nations takes place on October 24th with Italy, which will be followed on October 31st with a date with France .

Leinster Rugby announce 28 new contracts

Leinster Rugby announced 28 new contract for the 2020/21 season, while also announcing some players that will be leaving the club.

Leinster Head Coach Leo Cullen also welcomed the announcement of the new contracts, while he also acknowledged the circumstances around some players. He told Leinsterrugby.ie, “We are delighted to be able to confirm the list of 28 contracts today and in particular with so many of them coming through the clubs and the schools of Leinster. A huge amount of work goes into developing players at all levels of the game so it’s incredibly pleasing for us to have five players promoted directly from our Academy”.

Five players are promoted from the Academy to the senior squad. These are Harry Dunne, Ryan Baird, Harry Byrne, Tommy O’Brien and Dan Sheehan. Leo Cullen welcomed the players to the squad and said, “It is always a hugely special day for them, their families and their clubs and schools so I would like to congratulate Ryan (Baird), Harry (Byrne), Jack (Dunne), Tommy (O’Brien) and Dan (Sheehan).

However, 7 players will leave the club. Jack Aungier, Bryan Byrne, Barry Daly, Oisin Dowling, Gavin Mullin, Roman Salanoa and Joe Tomane. Cullen thanked the players for their contributions over the past number of seasons and said, “To Bryan, Barry and Joe from the Senior squad and to Jack, Gavin, Roman and Oisín from the Academy we would like to thank you all for your contribution and effort that you have given the club”.

Fergus McFadden and Rob Kearney will stay at the club until completion of the 2019/20 season in which Leo Cullen said he was “delighted” with. The former Leinster and Ireland second rower said, “Both players have given so much to the team over the course of their careers as ‘one club’ men and hopefully, they can both contribute strongly to the team for the games that we still hope to play out”.

Leinster Rugby – New Senior Contracts:

1. Vakh Abdaladze, 11 Leinster Caps (LC), 1 Leinster Tries (T)*
2. Ryan Baird, 7 LC, 3 T
3. Michael Bent, 4 Ireland Caps (IC), 135 LC, 4 T
4. Adam Byrne, 1 IC, 57 LC, 20 T
5. Ed Byrne, 52 LC, 7 T
6. Harry Byrne, 9 LC, 2 T
7. Ross Byrne, 6 IC, 84 LC, 5 T
8. Will Connors, 15 LC, 2 T
9. Seán Cronin, 72 IC, 181 LC, 41 T
10. Peter Dooley, 76 LC, 2 T
11. Caelan Doris, 2 IC, 29 LC, 4 T
12. Jack Dunne, 7 LC, 0 T

13. Scott Fardy, 39 Australia Caps (AC), 58 LC, 10 T
14. Jordan Larmour, 24 IC, 46 LC, 12 T
15. Dan Leavy, 11 IC, 63 LC, 14 T
16. James Lowe, 43 LC, 28 T
17. Ross Molony, 95 LC, 3 T
18. Josh Murphy, 32 LC, 2 T
19. Tommy O’Brien, 3 LC, 1 T
20. Rory O’Loughlin, 1 IC, 67 LC, 21 T
21. Rowan Osborne, 4 LC, 1 T
22. Andrew Porter, 26 IC, 62 LC, 9 T
23. Rhys Ruddock, 26 IC, 172 LC, 10 T
24. James Ryan, 26 IC, 37 LC, 2 T**
25. Dan Sheehan, 0 LC, 0 T
26. Devin Toner, 70 IC, 244 LC, 4 T
27. James Tracy, 6 IC, 108 LC, 8 T
28. Josh van der Flier, 26 IC, 80 LC, 9 T

Academy Players Promoted to Senior Squad:

1. Ryan Baird
2. Harry Byrne
3. Jack Dunne
4. Tommy O’Brien
5. Dan Sheehan

Leinster Rugby – Departees:

1. Jack Aungier, 5 LC, 0 T
2. Bryan Byrne, 47 LC, 12 T
3. Barry Daly, 36 LC, 19 T
4. Oisín Dowling, 6 LC, 0 T
5. Gavin Mullin, 2 LC, 0 T
6. Roman Salanoa, 3 LC, 0 T
7. Joe Tomane, 17 AC, 21 LC, 3

*Statistics correct as of 24th June 2020
**Already announced as centrally contracted by the IRFU

Six Nations to resume with Ireland facing Italy

Six Nations organisers have revealed the rescheduled fixtures to complete the 2020 tournament. The plans for the eight team tournament were also confirmed.

Ireland will play Italy on the 24th of October at the Aviva Stadium. They will then face France in Paris on October 31st. That same day England will take on Italy, while Wales will face Scotland at Twickenham, as the Principality is still been used to help with Covid 19. The Women’s Six Nations will also return. This will be completed across three weekends. The women’s side will play on October 24th at home to Italy, before travelling to France a week later. However, in some bad news, the U20 Six Nations will not be complete. No team will be crowned champions. It will come as bitterly disappointing news for Noel McNamara and his side as they topped the table with three wins from three games.

Six Nations bosses are also looking at whether spectators will be allowed at the games. A statement by the Six Nations said, “In rescheduling these matches, the health and safety of players, associated staff and supporters has been at the forefront of our thinking,”. The statement continued, “We remain in close contact with all relevant authorities across the respective jurisdictions to ensure these matches take place in a safe environment and we will announce further details of health and safety protocols and guidance on spectator attendance in due course”.

The 8 team tournament was also confirmed. We reported earlier last month that Fiji and Japan will be playing. However, organisers have said “this will be a once off event”. They said in a statement, “In recent weeks, Six Nations has also been progressing contingency plans for an alternative tournament format in place of the Autumn Internationals for 2020, primarily driven by travel restrictions not allowing many international teams to play the scheduled matches,”.

Organisers said the tournament will be a “unique” eight team tournament. Match schedules and operational details are currently been finalised. It is expected in the two or three weeks an announcement on the venues and the schedules.

2020 Guinness Six Nations Championship Rescheduled Fixtures:

Round 4:

Ireland v Italy, Aviva Stadium – 24 October  (Kick-off TBC)

Round 5: 

Wales v Scotland, TBC – 31 October (Kick-off 14.15)

Italy v England, Stadio Olympico – 31 October (Kick-off 16.45)

France v Ireland, Stade de France – 31 October  (Kick-off 20.00)

2020 Women’s Six Nations Championship Rescheduled Fixtures:

Round 4, weekend of 24 October:

Scotland v France

Ireland v Italy

Round 5, weekend of 31 October:

Wales v Scotland

Italy v England

France v Ireland

Round 3, weekend of 5 December:

Italy v Scotland

Irish senior star voted Stoke player of year

Republic of Ireland international James McClean has voted been Stoke City’s player of the year. The vote came through an online vote by Stoke City supporters, with the 6,000 voters voting 49% in favour of McClean ahead of Sam Lucas on 38%.

Stoke, nicknamed the Potters had a poor enough season in the Championship this season failing to build the previous season. The Potters finished 15th this season. They were well clear of the relegation zone. The Derry native had a good campaign in Staffordshire, scoring 7 goals in 36 league appearances.

🔢 Macca’s numbers for the season.

A deserving winner 🤝#SCFC 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/5GCkRKwSnh

— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) August 5, 2020

He released a statement confirming the news on the clubs website. He said, “I just want to say firstly how proud I am to pick up the club’s Player of the Year award,”. He went on to thank the fans for their support throughout the whole season. He said, “I would like to thank the fans for their support throughout the whole season and their votes. I will work extremely hard to try to emulate and better myself next season.” The form of McClean is sure to be a boost for the Republic of Ireland who are in Nations League action next month. Stephen Kenny will be thrilled that’s for sure.

The man himself has a message for you, Potters 💪 #SCFC 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/fbQ0u538af

— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) August 5, 2020

Australia postpone T20 series with West Indies

Cricket Australia has postponed their T20 series meetings with the West Indies. The news was announced on Tuesday and it now means the Aussies will not playing the Carribeans in October.

Australia were due to host the West Indies in three warm up games in Queensland ahead of the start of T20 World Cup. However, due to a rise in virus cases worldwide and in Australia itself the International Cricket Council have decided to postpone the games. Cricket Australia released a statement confirming that the games will not be going ahead and that they will take place at a later date in 2021 or 2022.

The statement read, “In light of this development, and given the preference to host the warm-up three-match T20 series against the West Indies to coincide with the rescheduled T20 World Cup in Australia (which will take place in either 2021 or 2022), it has been agreed to postpone the matches,”.

It’s not the first time that Australian cricket matches have been postponed with a two test series with Bangladesh in June which was part of the ICC World Test Championship. The Aussies though are currently working on rescheduling a delayed tour to England for limited over matches in September.

The cancellation of the West Indies games has now meant several other events have been pushed back or pushed forward. The Australians are still scheduled to face India in a T20 series from 11 to 17 October, but that series will also have to be shifted given it now falls in the middle of the IPL. The Indian Premier League will run from 19 September to 10 November this year, in the United Arab Emirates.

 

 

 

GAA grounds could be half empty in four years

It’s looking like the new norm now that GAA grounds could be half empty for another couple of years, with some experts saying four years. The virus is simply not going away anytime soon. Christy O’Connor wrote a fine piece on what could happen if the capacity of big events are increased. 

Looking at some examples, a choir in Skagit Valley in Washington gathered for rehearsal in March, 45 of them ended up either diagnosed with Covid 10 or had symptoms. Another example was a choir in Amsterdam who were going to give a performance at a cathedral in the city. 102 of the 130 people in the choir were diagnosed with Covid 19. What is the difference in having spectators sat beside either other and games and choirs singing in close contact. Not very much in my opinion, given that singing does at happen sports events such as the singing of the national anthems and general crowd singing at games such as “Come on You Boys in Blue” or “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.  In fact shouting is a also a massive risk factor.

We all love to shout and cheer on our teams at sports games. However, Luke O’Neill from the School of Biochemistry and Immunology said shouting is a big risk factor. He said, The virus comes out of your mouth when you shout, even more than when you speak. “So, if the football crowd is shouting its head off, you’re going to [have] more virus being released. You mitigate against those by wearing a mask, that’ll trap the virus.”

As we all know GAA club activity has resumed in the last three of four weeks. Whether this is a good thing or not only time will tell. O’Neill said, If you’re with someone in close contact for more than 15 minutes that’s a high-risk activity,” “Secondly, the more and more people densely packed in, the more chance there is of that happening. If there isn’t good air circulation, if the air stagnates then the virus can sort of linger a bit.”

However, Gerry Killeen, the AXA Research Chair in Applied Pathogen Ecology has said that it could take up to four years before it’s safe for full crowds to return to games. He said the best case scenario would be to have “50% capacity at sporting grounds”. He also said ideally people would social distance 1m apart and wear face masks”. 

There simply has been to many opinion on what to do next with people saying different things. I honestly can’t see everything turning to normal, as the way we are now is the new norm. People to be aware more of their surroundings, what they are doing and who they could be passing the virus onto. 

You might not know that you have it and that’s why it is so important to wear face masks and sanitise and wash your hands as much as possible to protect others. 

GAA season ticket holders to get partial refund

GAA season ticket holders can expect to get a partial refund after that the Association announced it was cancelling the season ticket for the remainder of 2020.

The GAA on their website said that they can confirm that it has been in contact with approximately 26,000 GAA season ticket holders today to inform them that the Association is cancelling the season ticket for the remainder of 2020 and is issuing a partial refund of €40 for adult tickets, while a refund of €10 will be given for juveniles. According to the GAA website season ticket holders should expect their refund in the next fortnight. 

The GAA said that the decision was taken with “regret”. However, due to the current economic crisis that is the pandemic and due to that it will be impossible to offer assurance that capacity at inter-county venues later in the year will be able to cater for demand.

The season ticket provides access to all the regular round of games in the Allianz leagues in a specific code. Moreover, it also allows the ticket holder to go to theAIB All-Ireland club finals and the first round of the provincial senior championships. So it is good value for money in that retrospect. 

The price is €120 (or €200 for Adult Club+) and then Pay & Play applies. The Juvenile GAA Season Ticket has a base price of €30 and then Pay & Play applies.Dedicated fans will be entitled to All-Ireland Final tickets. Obviously t&cs would apply here going on how many of your county games you attended and what not.

To date, 70 per cent of the matches that a ticket provided access to had been played.The GAA Season Ticket office is currently processing queries directly with GAA Season Ticket holders and as we already these will be refunded within 2 weeks.

Women’s Under-17 National League start Saturday, August 15th

The 2020 Women’s Under-17 National League season will kick off on Saturday, 15th August, and run through to the final on the week ending November 29th.

Split across three groups, 15 clubs will be involved including newcomers Bray Wanderers, Carlow-Kilkenny and Shamrock Rovers.

The top two sides in each group, as well as the two best third-placed teams, will advance to the knock-out stages which will start on the week ending 15th November.

In Group 1, Sligo Rovers and Peamount United will meet on the opening weekend, with Shamrock Rovers playing Athlone Town.

Reigning champions Galway WFC begin their campaign at home to Bohemians in Group 2, while Carlow-Kilkenny will take on Treaty United.

In Group 3, Shelbourne will host Cork City, while Wexford Youths entertain Greystones United.

Inside The Game – Sky’s new GAA show

Sky Sports has announced a new GAA discussion show called, Inside The Game, which will be broadcast on Wednesdays from the 19th August on Sky Sports Arena.

Hosted by Brian Carney, Gráinne McElwain and Mike Finnerty on alternating weeks, the show will run throughout the build-up to the intercounty championships right through the season up to the All-Ireland Final, and will feature different guests each week, including the Sky Sports GAA analysts.

Gaelic football will be the focus on the first episode, with Kieran Donaghy and Peter Canavan discussing all the latest news and club action, as well as looking forward to the 2020 All-Ireland Championship.

On alternating weeks, hurling will take centre stage with JJ Delaney, Jamesie O’Connor and Ollie Canning joining the conversation alongside other special guests.

There will also be exclusive interviews, features and more as the 2020 GAA season gathers pace.

From mid-October when intercounty action restarts, the analysts will be debating all the biggest stories, as well as reviewing highlights and previewing upcoming matches.

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