Wexford chairman wants teams punished for not fulfilling fixtures

Wexford chairman Michéal Martin says there should be repercussions for any team failing to fulfil a fixture in the intercounty preseason competitions.

The Wexford footballers were due to host Louth in Hollymount on Wednesday night in their third O’Byrne Cup game of the campaign. However, on Monday morning, it emerged that Louth were pulling out of the game and instead handing Wexford a walkover.

Louth, having beaten Westmeath and Kildare in their opening fixtures, had already qualified for Sunday’s semi-final, so the last round games in the group were of no consequence to the outcome of the table.

On Tuesday, Kildare followed Louth’s lead by saying they would be unable to fulfil their fixture in the same group against Westmeath on Wednesday night.

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Both moves have cast fresh doubts about the sustainability of such competitions if teams are prepared to opt out so casually.

If a fixture is not going to be fulfilled, then there have to be repercussions

Mickey Harte’s Louth will suffer no direct punishment for not making the trip to Wexford and they will still participate in the semi-final on Sunday. Given how clubs around the country are penalised by their county board should they fail to field teams, the lack of deterrent for doing just that in this instance is problematic.

“If a fixture is not going to be fulfilled, then there have to be repercussions,” says Martin. “I wouldn’t like it to be a monetary one, I think it should be in relation to a points deduction.

“We all realise it’s a preseason competition, but I’d still say a lot of people would be surprised to learn there are no repercussions for withdrawing from games. So it is something that should be looked at.”

The Leinster Council confirmed to The Irish Times there was nothing in place to punish counties for skipping matches this year but that regulations on such will now to be reviewed.

A spokesperson for the provincial council said: “We will be looking at introducing them for future competitions as a safeguard.”

Wexford lost their opening two matches against Kildare and Westmeath, but new manager John Hegarty had planned his team selections with three round-robin games in mind, aiming to give all squad members adequate game-time.

The Shelmaliers club, whose home ground of Hollymount was to host the game, had been planning for the fixture, arranging the logistics and ensuring the venue and surrounds would be adequately covered by stewards on the night.

We were disappointed when we heard the game would not be going ahead. Shelmaliers was looking forward to hosting an intercounty fixture

Wexford had actually been approached during the Christmas period about moving the game out of the county, but because it was a home fixture, they weren’t inclined to accede to such a request.

“We were disappointed when we heard the game would not be going ahead,” says Martin.

“There are a couple of aspects to that disappointment. The main one is because there were three teams picked before the competition started, based around player rotation. One of the other reasons then would have been because of the venue, as the club was looking forward to hosting an intercounty fixture.”

Among the reasons suggested for Louth and Kildare’s walkovers has been the unavailability of players due to commitments with their third level teams. But one imagines it is not beyond the ability of senior intercounty managers to round up a panel of able-bodied players, if they actually wanted to play the game.

Apart from the game being a dead-rubber, cost may also have been a driving factor in Louth not wanting to travel to Wexford. Martin estimates that when you combine travel, food and other expenses around an away game, “you wouldn’t stop at €5,000 for a matchday fee”.

Martin was actually on the GAA’s Fixtures Task Force Calendar Review Committee, which in 2020 proposed that the preseason competitions be discontinued.

The Task Force recommended all the provincial pre-National League tournaments such as the O’Byrne Cup, McKenna Cup, McGrath Cup, FBD League, Walsh Cup and Munster Hurling League be abolished.

The proposal was met, generally, with support and it appeared the competitions were for the scrapheap. But a change in dates for the resumption of intercounty training in December then prompted a rethink by some, and in November 2021 Central Council delegates voted to revive them.

One of the influencing bodies around the restoration of the competitions was intercounty managers, who instead of trying to arrange random one-off challenge matches wanted the benefit of a competition prior to their team’s National League campaign.

“For the most part, it was actually managers who brought them back because they wanted a structured set of fixtures,” adds Martin. “And here we are now, with a precedent being set with fixtures not being fulfilled.”