National Forum

The Corona Virus And Possible Effects To GAA Matches

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Replying To Trump2020:  "I don't know about the rest of Asia but I was in Japan from 2000-2002 and I used to see people occasionally wearing a mask if they had a cold."
Fantastic part of the world, I assume you stayed for the 2002 world cup? I made it there for the Saudi game, some craic. Last years Rugby was also brilliant, the problem playing against Japan was there was nothing to dislike about them.
I would say HK and SG are very similar to Japan and the custom of wearing facmasks when you are not well, even a nose sniffle they will wear it. Obviously that increased after SARS but always the same it wasn't to stop the wearer from getting sick but to prevent them from passing it on.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1799 - 03/06/2020 03:37:28    2279776

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The GAA should be planning a return to matches. They should have a "Project restart" going like other sports. They are in line to make a huge loss this summer. Where will the funding come from in future. Some good news for GAA is that they have the huge Croke park stadium available. So with the 80K capacity, social distancing can still give 40K attendance, not bad. The Aviva with only 50K capacity will never make enough money from 25K spectators to pay for the professionals.
Also I don't trust the present Govt. So it is another reason for GAA to plan themselves and not rely on any CLG disliking Minister for Sport to bail them out.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 03/06/2020 09:55:52    2279790

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Replying To galwayford:  "The GAA should be planning a return to matches. They should have a "Project restart" going like other sports. They are in line to make a huge loss this summer. Where will the funding come from in future. Some good news for GAA is that they have the huge Croke park stadium available. So with the 80K capacity, social distancing can still give 40K attendance, not bad. The Aviva with only 50K capacity will never make enough money from 25K spectators to pay for the professionals.
Also I don't trust the present Govt. So it is another reason for GAA to plan themselves and not rely on any CLG disliking Minister for Sport to bail them out."
According to media reports this morning, the guidelines for restarting will be agreed by Friday, and published by Monday 8th.

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 03/06/2020 10:55:47    2279797

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Still no mention of how they plan to test players. A return date and hope for the best it seems.

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 03/06/2020 11:40:13    2279802

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Replying To zinny:  "Fantastic part of the world, I assume you stayed for the 2002 world cup? I made it there for the Saudi game, some craic. Last years Rugby was also brilliant, the problem playing against Japan was there was nothing to dislike about them.
I would say HK and SG are very similar to Japan and the custom of wearing facmasks when you are not well, even a nose sniffle they will wear it. Obviously that increased after SARS but always the same it wasn't to stop the wearer from getting sick but to prevent them from passing it on."
My problem with Japan was it was too expensive. The people were nice and extremely courteous. Place was very clean. Trains ran perfectly on time. Children go to school 6 days a week. And they had the basic decency to wear a mask when they had a cold so they wouldn't spread germs.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2113 - 03/06/2020 11:43:42    2279803

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Replying To FoolsGold:  "Still no mention of how they plan to test players. A return date and hope for the best it seems."
Yes testing is important. I thought that some GAA grounds eg Pairc Uí Chaoimh were being used as test centres. So should not be too big a problem.
Point I am making is how is the Bundesliga doing, or Irish/UK horse racing. Don't blame the GAA, it was largely Cheltenham and the Guinness 6 nations rugby that should have been cancelled but were not. It was not the GAA's fault virus is here. It came from other shores.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 03/06/2020 15:39:32    2279823

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How will the Aviva cope with social distancing. At least Croke park is huge, and has plenty of room. With social distancing it can still have 30-40K imho. The Aviva cannot. It is too small.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 03/06/2020 15:40:51    2279824

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How will the Aviva cope with social distancing. At least Croke park is huge, and has plenty of room. With social distancing it can still have 30-40K imho. The Aviva cannot. It is too small.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 03/06/2020 15:40:51    2279825

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Replying To galwayford:  "How will the Aviva cope with social distancing. At least Croke park is huge, and has plenty of room. With social distancing it can still have 30-40K imho. The Aviva cannot. It is too small."
30-40k ??

That would mean someone sitting 1 seat away from you. How wide are the croke park seats? just under 500mm?

If you were to apply social distancing as you say - the current 2 metre guideline, put someone in a seat in Croke park and draw a 2m radius from them, you'd lose 15-20 seats.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5010 - 03/06/2020 16:34:14    2279832

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I don't know if having a ruduced attendance would work. There would still be people queuing up going through the turnstiles and exiting.
Outside the ground beforehand people would likely be mixing.

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 03/06/2020 16:39:46    2279834

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Replying To FoolsGold:  "I don't know if having a ruduced attendance would work. There would still be people queuing up going through the turnstiles and exiting.
Outside the ground beforehand people would likely be mixing."
Masks would be a necessity. At a minimum.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2113 - 03/06/2020 18:53:30    2279844

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well how can there be attendances at matches if what you say is true. A reduced attendance means reduced numbers using the facilities. Eg the Food outlets , the Toilets.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 04/06/2020 12:32:51    2279875

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I don't think they will have attendances. Getting playing itself will be a challenge. The Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga are all going to be played behind closed doors for foreceable future.

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 04/06/2020 13:05:09    2279878

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Here's what a socially distanced stadium might look like. Assuming they'll jack up the prices to cover costs and try to make a profit. I reckon sports mad people would be delighted to pay over the odds to get out of the house and see a game of anything at this stage.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 04/06/2020 14:46:40    2279881

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They'll be full stadium again. It's going to take a while though.

moros (Roscommon) - Posts: 1076 - 04/06/2020 16:06:32    2279887

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "link

Here's what a socially distanced stadium might look like. Assuming they'll jack up the prices to cover costs and try to make a profit. I reckon sports mad people would be delighted to pay over the odds to get out of the house and see a game of anything at this stage."
Interesting link. I suppose they'd have masks on. I guess they'd be no worse off than the looters, rioters, and protesters, etc over the last week or so.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2113 - 04/06/2020 16:17:09    2279888

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Replying To galwayford:  "There is talk of a Covid 19 second surge and it's effects. That is why I suggest the Allianz League as a trial run. No disrespect to Allianz, it is a great sponsor and a great competition. If the GAA finish the League and trial the new social distancing procedures. And see how it goes. If it goes belly up, well it is the" league".
Best be prudent with the Corona virus imho. And managing large crowds and games."
When you think about it finishing the league first before the club championship is played may not be a bad idea. Think about it, how prepared even with a couple of weeks training would a club team be for championship, some lads will come out of the lockdown in a poor condition as they believed there would be nothing to play for this year. Others depending on what their job was or where they lived could be in good shape. County players on the other hand at least would have the discipline to keep training and in shape and would pick up the touch a lot quicker than the club boys. So finishing the league (which was three weeks anyway) and then a block of two months for club and then a revised intercounty season. Only problem is it would push the inter county season late into the year.
Mind you it would be another backtrack from the GAA on their red lines but to me it makes sense.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1799 - 04/06/2020 16:46:37    2279891

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Replying To zinny:  "When you think about it finishing the league first before the club championship is played may not be a bad idea. Think about it, how prepared even with a couple of weeks training would a club team be for championship, some lads will come out of the lockdown in a poor condition as they believed there would be nothing to play for this year. Others depending on what their job was or where they lived could be in good shape. County players on the other hand at least would have the discipline to keep training and in shape and would pick up the touch a lot quicker than the club boys. So finishing the league (which was three weeks anyway) and then a block of two months for club and then a revised intercounty season. Only problem is it would push the inter county season late into the year.
Mind you it would be another backtrack from the GAA on their red lines but to me it makes sense."
I agree with all the points you made and if done WOULD push the Championship late into the year hence the need for a straight knock out Championship.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2113 - 04/06/2020 20:56:42    2279906

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I'd rather finish the league than have a couple of challenge matches to get ready for the new season.

But - of course - we don't know when we're starting again. All we can do is plan for half a dozen possible start dates. If I were in charge at the GAA, I'd have plans for July, August and September. In a couple of weeks, I'd move that on to August, September and October. No point in planning for scenarios more than three months ahead - this coronavirus thing has been fast moving. Think what's happened in the last three months - we were watching games in March.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 05/06/2020 12:50:06    2279929

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "I'd rather finish the league than have a couple of challenge matches to get ready for the new season.

But - of course - we don't know when we're starting again. All we can do is plan for half a dozen possible start dates. If I were in charge at the GAA, I'd have plans for July, August and September. In a couple of weeks, I'd move that on to August, September and October. No point in planning for scenarios more than three months ahead - this coronavirus thing has been fast moving. Think what's happened in the last three months - we were watching games in March."
Your spot on. The situation is changing so quickly. Back in early March we would never have contemplated St Patricks Day Parades being cancelled never mind anything else. Then all of a sudden everything is cancelled. I have a feeling the opposite could start occurring now(i'm an optimist).

The GAA will need to plan around a number of start dates. Probably well past the stage of any round robin now. But they may still intend to finish the league and have a back door. As dates gets pushed back the league and/or the back door could potentially go as well. Although as the qualifiers run in parallel to the championship i don't think they would be dropped. And because the league standings are so important to next years championship I would assume heaven and earth will be moved to finish out the league (where games matter).

I would imagine it will be Open draw this year. We'll see. Provincial councils will want their slice of caca milis!

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1826 - 05/06/2020 15:48:50    2279939

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