Ulster GAA secretary Brian McAvoy has accused the GPA of turning a blind eye to collective inter-county training sessions which took place before the December 7 return date.

In bemoaning the removal of pre-season competitions from this year’s GAA calendar, McAvoy claimed in his annual report that the GPA let down the players they represent by failing to prevent widespread early returns to pre-season training.

“The GPA issued a strong statement highlighting that November should be ‘a zero contact’ month. If even a fraction of the reports of inter-county collective training sessions taking place in November are true, then the December 7th date was flouted high and wide across the country,” he wrote.

“[What] did the GPA say or do during this time to call this out? I’m not sure if they did or said anything. It seems as if they were true to their word and had ‘zero contact’ with their members on the issue during this time.

“It seems as if the argument of abandoning the pre-season competitions in order to save inter-county footballers from collective training in November was a fallacy.” 

McAvoy added: “County players seemingly still trained in November, supporters missed out on pre-season competitions, inter-county football teams missed out on an opportunity to trial the new rules in a semi-competitive environment, fringe county players missed out on the opportunity to represent their county, referees on a development pathway missed out on the opportunity to officiate at a higher level, Provincial Councils lost out on a significant revenue source and had the unenviable task of explaining to sponsors how competitions could be removed at a whim.

“Ultimately, clubs and young people lost out due to a reduction in both grants and programme delivery due to the associated revenue loss. One can but hope that the pre-season competitions will be restored to their rightful place in 2026.”

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