Daniel Carey
FORMER Mayo manager James Horan has backed the abolition of the All-Ireland Under-21 Football Championship, and changing the inter-county minor grade to under-17.
Speaking at last Thursday’s ‘Success In Sport – What Does It Take?’ seminar in Westport, the Ballintubber man supported proposals published recently by the GAA’s Director-General Páraic Duffy.
Horan said the current GAA season was ‘set up for conflict’, and pointed to the numerous ‘competing priorities with different managers’. He said what players aged 17-21 were asked to play during February and March was ‘absolute madness’ and noted that some in that age group were ‘breaking down’.
The amount of injuries sustained by members of the 2013 Mayo minor team – who were the subject of a recent article in The Mayo News – was ‘incredible’, the two-time All Star added.
“They’re losing probably the most influential years of their life – at 18, 19, 20 – as regards developing into a footballer,” he added.
Summarising the demands on players in the early part of the calendar year, Horan listed Sigerson Cup, Freshers competition, under-21, club league, club under-21 and National League. February to April was, he said, ‘a really, really dangerous time’ for players.
“I agree that the under-21 [competition] should go,” Horan concluded. “I think the minor [grade] should be reduced to 17, so it takes out that Leaving Cert risk group. They’ve got to get [to] college and get their qualification … A lot of the guys that are going to college, they can play college, so I think the under-21 should go, the way it’s set up at the moment – because you’ve a continuous season. If the season changed, where inter-county was only six months, then you could look at other things. But the way it’s set up at the moment, I think 17 [for minor] and under-21 gone is probably a valid way to go.”
