GAA: Underage players must serve an apprenticeship before making the final step
Players going into inter-county squads ‘half-hearted’ will end up walking away, according to former Derry and Banagher goalkeeper David Hassan.
Hassan, a Professor in Sport at Ulster University, spoke to the County Derry Post in his new role as Chairman of the GAA’s Standing Committee on the playing rules. A group put in place to review of the playing rules of Gaelic Football and Hurling
Derry have used 51 players, in league and championship, in the last two seasons. Already this season, Niall Keenan, Ciaran McFaul, Patrick Kearney and Danny Tallon have opted out of the panel.
Moulding a team with this level of player turnover is nearly impossible. The Dublins and the Kerrys have a more stable squad, but they have the genuine chance of playing championship football at the business end of the season.
In reference to his senior county career in the late 1990s, Hassan labelled it as ‘almost a full-time occupation’.
It has spiralled into what we have today.
“It is a huge undertaking. If you are prepared to play inter-county football, you must give the full extent of the commitment to compete at that level and you must consider it before even joining a panel,” stresses Hassan.
“You’d be a fool if you entered into it half-hearted because eventually the demands of the game will catch up with you. And unfortunately, that leads to some players walking away from the situation.”
With a vast experience in sport at all levels, including Irish league soccer, Sigerson Cup and inter-county senior football – Hassan is well-placed to make the judgement.
He appeals to players to step into the inter-county game with their ‘eyes wide open’ about the commitment required.
“I think some players say, ‘I’ll give this a go for a couple of years and see how it goes’ but the successful players see it as a longer-term engagement,” Hassan adds.
“After year three, four or five - perhaps then they are ready to compete on the first 15. My observation looking in from the outside, of those players who haven’t stuck the course is that they have found that idea of having to commit over a period of time to get up to the pace of competition – that is the real challenge.”
Players coming in at 18 years of age, are often coming in as the star player on an underage team.
“My reading of the modern game is that it requires probably about three years of serious preparation before you would even think of being a regular on the (senior) team.
“The observation that I would make about a lot of modern inter-county teams between what used to be minor (U17 now), those late-teen years into the early 20s has always been problematic for all, including Derry, we know that to be the case.”
Hassan stresses the need for patience for players: “It is not just that linear transition between a good starting player at minor level and even a good starting player at U21 level and then a starting player at senior inter-county level. There is an apprenticeship there to be served.”
Full interview on Hassan’s role under new President John Horan in this week's County Derry Post...