The GAA needs to take a leaf out of rugby’s book when it comes to looking after club players, according to double European 400m indoor champion David Gillick.
The former athlete plays football for Ballinteer St John’s, but due to Dublin’s success at senior level, many games have been postponed with uncertainty surrounding exactly when the outstanding fixtures will be played.
With GAA bosses always keen to mention that ‘club' football and hurling is what the association is all about, Gillick pointed to rugby as an example of how it should be run.
“I look at what they do in rugby in the AIL [Ulster Bank League],” he told Game On.
“They’ll have their fixtures and they’re set in stone so you can plan. You know exactly when to push the players, when to back off, whereas in GAA, this summer, it’s been really difficult.
“You want to play competitive matches, challenge [matches] are all well and good but you want to play the league games, the games that actually matter, the championship games.
“When the Six Nations is on, all the [Pro12] league games are still continuing. The players who aren’t playing internationals are still playing games.
“That’s something, particularly in Dublin, that I’ve found quite difficult during the summer.”
Asked how his season was going, the 32-year-old said: “I was playing [a lot of football] until Dublin decided to do well and I haven’t played a competitive game in about two months.
“You’re just waiting around. Even with the championship side of it at club level, you don’t know any fixtures"
“It’s frustrating now to be brutally honest. We’ve had challenge games and things like that and once the All-Ireland [series] is over we’re straight back into it so we’ve got a league game against Skerries on Saturday.
“It’s just a little bit frustrating because you’ve been waiting around all summer and now the weather is closing in and before you know it we could be playing a play-off final in the first week of December.
“It’s a little bit disappointing when you stretch the whole year and you’re trying to keep momentum going.
“You’re just waiting around. Even with the championship side of it at club level, you don’t know any fixtures. So you’re trying to look at the fixture list at the start of the year and plan your year.
“There’s a couple of things going on - lads are getting married, people are going away on holidays and they’ve deliberately put it off to October time so the season would be out but it’s not the case.
“We’ve three games left, so it’s the clubs that suffer.
“You don’t know what’s happening. So we’ve got three fixtures left but only two have firm dates.”
