Peter Canavan has voiced his ire at a fixture clash in Tyrone football this weekend. Despite the fact that the Tyrone ladies' team are in action against Tipperary in the intermediate ladies' final at Croke Park on Sunday at 1.45pm, the county board have scheduled some fixtures from the men's senior championship for the same day.
Among the clubs involved in Tyrone are Canavan's club Errigal Ciaran: they face Carrickmore at 6pm on Sunday evening. Yet Errigal Ciaran supply five players to the Tyrone Ladies' squad, among them Canavan's daughter Áine. Canavan spoke to Declan Bogue of the Independent to make public his disappointment:
There is outcry obviously and disappointment in a lot of clubs. It has put club members in a position whereby they have to choose between club championship matches and an All-Ireland final that their club members are playing in.
In an era where so many clubs are working on a 'One Club' model, Errigal has fully integrated the boys and the girls. There is no difference made between the girls and boys. Yet clearly there is a differentiation made here.
Canavan went on to call it a "shocking" decision by the fixtures committee, while the Tyrone Ladies Gaelic Football Association has called on the clubs involved to object to the scheduling of the senior county games.
