GAA to impose sanctions on county teams training before September 14
Last Updated: 03/07/20 5:39pm
The GAA are set to row back on their stance on not imposing penalties on intercounty teams who are caught training before September 14.
The club game is being given precedence for the summer, with intercounty teams not allowed to reconvene for two and a half months.
But last week the Croke Park top brass said they weren't intending to sanction anyone breaking the ban.
"We're not intending to. We'd like people to call them out but we're not actually intending to impose any penalties," said GAA president John Horan.
"It hasn't been a summer for penalties and for sanctions and I'm not really sure that's the right realm for this thing either," added director general Tom Ryan.
"We'll be asking people to abide by those because they're the right thing to do. If there's a second stage required in terms of sanctions and penalties and so on, yeah of course we'll look at that."
However, it now appears that they are set to revisit the stance, amidst allegations that some county teams have been training in recent weeks.
The Irish Independent reports that county officials met via a conference call on Friday, and a hardened stance was approved.
This could mean that teams found to be in breach could find themselves removed from competitions later this year.
Clubs are being encouraged to report such instances, if their county players are not attending nor partaking in their club training sessions.
