Daniel Carey
THE Mayo senior football squad’s training camp to Portugal had to be called off at the eleventh hour after it was discovered that the trip would have been in breach of GAA regulations.
The county panel and team management were due to depart for Brown’s resort in Vilamoura last Sunday, May 9, and return in time for a challenge match against Cavan in Belmullet next Saturday, May 15.
Mayo GAA Board Chairman James Waldron told The Mayo News that trip did not go ahead because it was ‘contrary to rule’. Having ‘sought permission to travel’, they were informed they would be in breach of regulations after ‘a general e-mail went out to all counties’. He concluded: “We weren’t going to disobey the rules.”
A ruling brought in over two years ago, as part of the GAA’s measures aimed at tackling burn-out and affording more time to club fixtures, meant that the training camp had to be cancelled.
It is framed under the heading, ‘Inter County Players Availability to Clubs’ and states: “Riail 6.23 (b) provides that Senior Inter County Panels shall not be permitted to go on Training Weekends or training of longer duration after the Final of their respective National League having been played, except during the 13 days prior to a Senior Championship Game (20 days in the case of an All Ireland Final).”
Asked why the issue had only come to light a few days before the six-day camp, Waldron said that ‘because club matches weren’t going to be affected’ by the trip, Mayo believed they were good to go.
“The reason it was brought in at the time was … that [training camps might affect] club fixtures. We were fulfilling club fixtures prior to going and we were [due to be] back again to fulfil any fixtures next weekend,” he explained.
Mayo have lost no money as a result of the enforced cancellation, Waldron added. The GAA Board were ‘due to book’ flights on the bank holiday Monday, but ‘just had a ballpark figure for the number of the seats that would be required’. Likewise, they had only ‘provisionally reserved’ a slot with their prospective hosts in Portugal.
The chairman said that any decision on whether to go on a training camp within the allowed 13-day period prior to a championship ‘will be up to [team] management’. Manager John O’Mahony said: “All our preparations are now focused on the Sligo match.”
Waldron confirmed that a fund-raising golf classic being organised by members of the Mayo GAA Supporters Clubs in Mayo, Galway and Dublin will go ahead.
The first Mayo GAA Board Development Draw of 2010 has been rescheduled for Wednesday week, May 19 in McHale Park, Castlebar.
