GAA avoids Covid clash as North announces green light for sports training after April 12

The GAA is hopeful counties on both sides of the border can resume training at the same time

Colm Keys Twitter Email

March 16 2021 04:24 PM

The Northern Ireland executive will not give the green light for the return of sports training until April 12, it has been decided, easing pressure on the GAA who could have faced a difficult decision that would have challenged its 32-county approach to Covid.

Expectation had grown that a review this afternoon would pave the way for the earlier return for sport in the Six Counties.

But the NI Executive will only permit golf and tennis from April 1 with others sports, up to a maximum of 15, getting to go-ahead to train, subject to an Easter review, 12 days later.

There had been calls from prominent figures in the North for the GAA to clear clubs to return, even if that broke with the 32-county approach, but that looks likely to be less of an issue now.

What it could determine though is the start date in the rest of the country if the government relaxes rules around outdoor activity from April 5, as is the anticipation.

If outdoor training is permitted in the south, the GAA is now likely to align the dates on either side of the border so that April 12 becomes the start date for all.

It's not clear when the NI Executive would permit competitive games to follow, making a return date for the league still difficult to determine.

Case numbers and deaths in the North are considerably lower than the rest of the island and with vaccinations progressing quicker, it looked like it would challenge the GAA's 'move together' position outlined last May by then GAA president John Horan.

"We are a 32 county organisation and are quite proud of that fact," Horan said at the time. "We're conscious that we have to go with the pace of the slower of the two. We're not going to move to exclude one side or the other."

Tyrone GAA chairman Mickey Kerr this week gave support to the GAA taking a unified approach to return.