Jarlath Burns on why counties ‘laughed at’ his radical out-of-season training idea after trip to US

GAA president Jarlath Burns has revealed how a visit to NFL side the Pittsburgh Steelers last month gave him an idea on how to control out-of-season inter-county training, but that it was “laughed at” when put to counties.

Speaking on GAAGO’s ‘Ratified’ podcast, Burns explained how the NFL’s off-season is controlled by the players’ union and how the use of cameras at centres of excellence are used to stamp out unsanctioned training sessions.

Burns touched on the work ahead for his Amateur Status Committee and the ‘unsustainability’ of what currently prevails at inter-county level and that he had some “radical” ideas around it.

He recalled a recent conversation with Alan Clarke, the founder of StatsSports, who told him “our players are training harder and fitter than Premier League players. But it’s not always smart training that they are doing.”

Burns led a GAA delegation to Pittsburgh where there were discussions with the Steelers’ NFL franchise about deepening links with Ireland and the possibility of an NFL game in Croke Park.

Player welfare was also a topic of conversation.

“They told us that after the Super Bowl, the closed season is run by the players union. They insist that happens and that no team is allowed to train,” said Burns.

“There are a number of ways that they do that. All of the GPS systems are licenced in that country which means that NFL can tell if any team is training by the fact that all the GPS systems are together at the one time.

“The second thing is there is a camera on their training ground that goes back to head office in the NFL and if there is one player out on that, the club could lose its licence to perform.

“When I rang counties and suggested putting a camera on centres of excellence, people laughed at me and said would you go away and catch a grip. That’s how stark it has to be.

“We have this unlicenced amateur status in our game where everyone wants to improve and we’re all doing so and it is with more training sessions, more intense training sessions, more money being spent.

“All we are doing is moving up and it’s the players who are losing out.

“The last people you blame for this are managers. Managers are doing what they are being told to do by the supporters which is get out and win.”

Burns cited his own county’s challenge this summer.

“Everyone in Armagh expects us to win Ulster. If we don’t, that won’t be a successful year. So Kieran McGeeney is going to have to do whatever it takes to win Ulster,” he said.

“I don’t blame Kieran for that, I don’t blame the Armagh county board. If they’re going to appoint him, they’re going to have to spend the money that is going to have to get us there.

“There is this arms race going on and there is nobody in control of it. It has to come tumbling down. We have to slim it right back down.

“It comes down to licencing the counties and making the counties before they can compete that they have to apply for a licence”.

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