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Risk-free championship impossible but behind closed doors might work in 'new normal'

Donnchadh Boyle

Kerry star David Clifford. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

May 06 2020 02:30 AM

Yes to a championship. Even a behind-closed-doors one. David Clifford put it succinctly yesterday. Playing in an empty ground wouldn't be ideal, he said, but it would be better than nothing. And that's what we're looking at at the moment.

Nothing.

"Of course it would be strange, I suppose it's obviously what drives you on and you feed off the crowd, and get a massive lift off the crowd at times," said the Kerry captain.

"But I suppose look, it's something where I've been thinking about it and a lot of fellas are of the belief that if you had a choice of playing behind closed doors or not playing at all, I think everyone would choose to play behind closed doors.

"Obviously, that's not the ideal scenario but if that was the last resort, I think fellas would have no problem with it."

And at the moment, that's fine. There are too many families grieving, too many other important things going on to be worrying about things like intermediate club championships and the return of the knockout system.

In any case, getting to a place where we think it will be okay to have 30 young men crashing into each other for 70 minutes before sending them back out into society feels a long way off.

And rightly so.

But human beings are funny creatures too. We've an ability to rationalise our own actions and to change our mind fundamentally. What seems outlandish today might not seem that mad tomorrow.

That can be seen around the sporting world. Despite everything we know, a number of soccer leagues plan to start back this month.

With the best planning in the world, there's a significant and unavoidable degree of risk. But they plan on carrying on and it seems they aren't meeting much in the way of opposition.

Given that they are dealing with professional athletes who can be isolated between matches, it's a development that's only of limited relevance to the GAA. But it shows a willingness to adapt and change as the need arises.

The same can be seen across the world of sport. It's even been suggested that rugby teams might train wearing masks and gloves and refrain from rucking, mauling and scrummaging under proposals put forward recently.

In a different time, such suggestions would have been laughed out of the room. But needs must and here we are.

In all of those cases, massive steps are being taken to limit the risk of infection but there's a tacit acceptance that no matter how careful they are, there is an element of risk involved.

As the pre-eminent community-based organisation in the land, the GAA will be held to a different standard.

If you hammer home the point that you are by the people and of the people then you can't do anything that might harm the people.

And we've heard over and over that the medical advice will be that there should be no contact sport until a vaccine is developed.

And yet last Friday a roadmap for the return to normality was laid out and in some cases, medical advice was ignored.

One hundred days to bring us back to something like what we were before. Sport is catered for in that programme. There'll be no vaccine but there's still a plan for GAA and rugby and other contact sports to return. In the midst of a pandemic, and as we face into the biggest recession in decades, life is carrying on.

However, having Government clearance to resume is one thing. Whether we'll be able to make the quantum leap and send players into action is the great unknown. Right now, it feels like it's just this side of reckless.

But we've travelled a long way in the last few months and will travel a long way in the next few months as well. We've gotten comfortable with our new normal in recent times because we had to.

Who knows where that will bring us next?

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