Connacht GAA secretary John Prenty has accused the Gaelic Players Association of hypocrisy, as they campaigned to get rid of pre-season tournaments, but wanted to see the return of International Rules.
Ulster GAA shared a similar stance, claiming that the GPA did little to prevent counties from training earlier than December 7th, which was the agreed date that collective training could return.
Prenty makes the point that the GPA eliminated pre-season cups for the sake of player welfare, but were publicly advocating the return of the International series.
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"The GPA are not fans of the pre-season competitions and have called for their demise in the past.
"Unfortunately, they have got their way for 2025 when in tandem with Ard Chomhairle they have succeeded in having all pre-season competitions discontinued for one year.
"Their theory is based on the fact that pre-season competitions are having a detrimental effect on player welfare. Maybe when next they conduct a survey with the players they might find out how many times inter-county teams have trained pre the return to train date and particularly how many challenge games have been played in December.
"The irony of the GPA concerns about player welfare has been the recent kite they flew around the return of the International Rules. Consistency is futile.
"With the recent Special Congress decision to approve all of the Football Review Committee motions surely the pre-season competitions had a valuable role to bring everybody, players, managements, referees and supporters up to speed with the new rules in a less competitive environment. It has been an opportunity lost."
However, the GPA has stated that if pre-season competitions were reintroduced on 2 January, the return-to-training date would need to be moved from 7 December to as early as 16 November, and they released a statement explaining the consequence of this.
"Sports science recommends at least a six-week preparation period to ensure that players are physically ready for competitive matches like the McKenna Cup.
"This adjustment would violate the 'No Contact November' policy, which 78% of players supported, emphasising the need for adequate recovery time to prevent burnout, injury and allow players a guaranteed window to holiday with family, partners and friends."
Last year saw the inter-provincials return for the first time in nearly 10 years, and although that was used as a one-off exercise to trial the new rules, players such as Tyrone's Niall Morgan has been vocal about seeing it return also.
