Your letter. Your Opinion

Was it necessary to stop all GAA activity in Laois? 

As we are all on a new Lockdown I’m going to discuss how Laois GAA has been affected and stopped even though they have kept with all the restrictions. There has been very few cases of Covid-19 in the GAA in Laois as they have kept to every regulation asked of them. Any cases that there have been in the GAA with local clubs have been sorted as soon as they were announced with the clubs being locked down and all the players tested as soon as possible. An example of a club that was affected was Killeshin. They were in contact with Carlow club O Leighlin who had 1 case within their club. Once this case was announced, Killeshin closed down their facilities and ceased training sessions immediately. The Football and Hurling Championship has only started back and has been ran very well by Laois GAA with all regulations and procedures stuck to. I feel that some political faces have not tried to help with this as they have advised that the GAA shut down even though there has been very little cases related to the GAA and any cases that were involved with the GAA were sorted as soon as possible. In these times the politicians should be fighting to keep the GAA going as Laois GAA will financially struggle as they are getting in even less revenue as they cannot even live stream the games to keep them going.

I have seen the precautions Laois GAA have put in and they are very well kept to by spectators as before and during each game they are all reminded of the social distancing guidelines and there is hand sanitiser etc supplied all over the stadium. I have spoken to Laois PRO Paul Dargan and this is what he had to say… “We were disappointed with the news last Friday evening when we were put into the lockdown. The GAA and Laois clubs have followed all guidelines and gone above and beyond so we can all return to play. With a successful weekend of hurling we were looking forward to the first round of football taking place. Clubs and fans have put so much effort into returning to play and we really thank them for commitment and procedures they have all followed. We have followed advice at all time from the HSE and Croke Park and when we got the phone call late Friday evening to suspend play immediately it was a tough call to make to teams and officials who were just about to take to the field of play. We look forward to returning to play, we wish everyone well and safe.”

Was it necessary to stop all sports in Laois? Photo Credit: Evan Treacy Photography

I have tried to contact many politicians who unfortunately would not respond to the matter. I feel that many people are deeply saddened that the Laois Football and Hurling Championship has to be delayed and hopefully we see a way to resolve this issue and hope to see the games back on in the near future.

Credit: Evan Treacy