The debate over the condition of GAA players and, in turn, the condition of gaelic football in particular, is not particularly new but it has certainly been notched up quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. Two individuals who have been most linked with the debate have been Joe Brolly and Dr. Niall Moyna of DCU.
Moyna has long been seen as an expert on sports science of gaelic football in particular and speaking on Off The Ball on Tuesday evening, he once again addressed the problems which high level players are facing in terms of over crowded schedules. Moyna, along with Brolly has advocated change for quite some time and tonight he went one step further by suggesting that the answer to encourage competitiveness and cut down on crowded schedules could be to combine counties to make a championship of roughly 18 teams.
How often do you see a player retiring early from Kerry, Donegal, Dublin or Kilkenny? Very rarely. Why is that?
Why would 26, 27, 28-year-old who's starting a family want to go out four or five times a week and train, knowing that at the beginning of the year that they haven't a snowball's chance of even winning a provincial championship game?
What I think has to happen is we have to combine counties. I know it's a sacrilege to say that but that's what's going to make it competitive. If we don't do that, all we're going to do is alienate and disenfranchise county players realise they're not going to have any success.
It's certainly an interesting proposal but one that would surely be fought by the vast majority of fans. You can listen to the full interview here:
