Cregg makes views known on ‘burnout’ debate

Roscommon minor board chairperson Brendan Cregg  echoed the sentiments expressed here in the Roscommon People last week with a very strong contribution to the county board meeting held on Tuesday last.   He said that he rejected the notion of player burnout at minor level and expressed his shock and disappointment at the vote taken on the abolition  of the minor and U-21 grades at a recent Roscommon Board meeting.   ‘We have undertaken a player diary study in conjunction with county minor players and their parents. We have worked out how long these lads should be training, studying, resting, etc.    ‘We have brought in a code whereby the minor players on the county panel will be available for their clubs for the minor league which is ongoing but that when the Connacht minor league starts and the Connacht championship starts, no player on the county minor panel will be expected to play junior, intermediate or senior games for their clubs until Roscommon are knocked out of the All-Ireland minor championship.    ‘We heard fine speeches about burnout last week but I wonder now will Gary Wynne (the county minor manager) be getting phonecalls from clubs appealing to him to allow young players play in league and championship matches’ he said.   ‘I have to say that I was shocked by last week’s vote in Roscommon. We are the county that has most to gain from a continuation of the minor and U-21 grades. What we did here last week was vote to deny our minors a chance to win an All-Ireland U-21 title in 2009, which is incredible. I heard that John Tobin spoke very well here last week but it is a wonder that his own county (Galway) did not support him when it came to the vote’ he said.   Two delegates queried the directive from the county minor team, with one commenting: ‘It would be a poor day for us if a county team manager could dictate whether a player could play for his club.’    Central Council delegate Tommy Kenoy said that it was now a rule that minor players were not permitted to play league games under rule as a result of last week’s Congress but that the rule did not apply to the championship.