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GAA

12th Mar 2017

It seems like paranoia is rampant in Donegal GAA circles

This is a bit much

Sean McMahon

There’s paranoia and then there is this.

At the highest levels of the game, there will be a certain level of secretness or confidentiality when it comes to naming your team on the eve of a match.

Managers often want to keep their cards close to their chest with the hope of keeping the opposition guessing.

We are all too familiar with the last minute changes made to starting line-ups but at senior inter-county level, where the stakes are highest, this could perhaps be considered understandable.

There are a lot of arguments against this too.

This practice frustrates supporters and the media alike with GAA Director General, Páraic Duffy, stating that it “treats supporters with a degree of contempt.”

When this type of thing begins to filter down into the lower levels of the game and through the underage grades then you’re beginning to have a problem.

It seems that it certainly has in Donegal GAA circles anyway.

Ryan Ferry, a sports journalist with the Donegal News, says he was refused the teamsheet of the Donegal U17 team, stating that the management were worried about the information getting leaked to other counties.

It is a bit worrying that this type of behaviour has filtered down to this level but with the game because increasingly competitive and driven by results, perhaps it’s not all that surprising.

Inevitably, there was quite a reaction to this news.

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Topics:

Donegal GAA