Professor Niall Moyna has called for a “big hard debate” around the future of university football.
The former DCU manager believes that if the Sigerson Cup is to continue it will have to go ahead without players on inter-county squads.
And the Scotstown native has ruled out the competition moving to a pre-Christmas slot as a non-runner due to clashes with club senior and under-20 activity.
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The issue reared its head again over the weekend with Meath manager Colm O’Rourke hitting out at what he termed the abuse of players after he lost Shane Walsh and Matthew Costello to injury.
Moyna said: “I was talking to someone at the weekend. I call it groundhog week. We get this every year. We need a long, hard debate around the Sigerson and why it’s there.
“It’s supposed to be for developing young talent. Instead it’s having the opposite effect to what it was intended. It’s overplaying these prodigious young players.
“We need a solution that’s going to work in 2023. It’s a totally different world, not a solution that was back in 1970.
“To be fair to the GAA they have really tried to move with the times over the past decade.
“But this is a perennial problem. I saw towards the end of my tenure with the Sigerson that the National League, even before it had a role to play in the All-Ireland, was turning into the major competition for most counties.
“They realise it’s like against like and their only chance for a little bit of success and promotion and they can get something positive out of the year.
“I could see clubs were starting to train much earlier and all these other issues, and now it’s just gone to a totally different level.
“You have a five month (inter-county) season. Every week is important.”
Moyna says he understands where inter-county managers are coming from, but he takes issue with the notion of moving the Sigerson to a pre-Christmas slot.
“It’s self-serving for inter-county seniors managers to say that,” he continues. “Club managers are going to have the exact same problem.
“My issue has been that in general, in the long term inter-county managers don’t really care what happens to the players.
“The clubs do and that’s why the club should always get the first preference on a player, I believe. We are so messed up that way.
“All of the universities are semesterised and they have exams before Christmas. That’s one thing.
“They seem to forget there is something called a club championship, and they are going to go on in most counties until October or November.
“When I was in charge of DCU the golden rule was as long as you were involved with club championship at home, you were free. I didn’t want to see you.
“That’s who got preference for me. Counties did not get preference although managers put fierce pressure on players.
“If they want to play the Sigerson they need time to prepare.
“Tomas O’Se put it well. We just have too many competitions. The time has come to really question the need for the Sigerson.
“Or to play it after Christmas and only for players who are not involved in county panels.
“Most players playing Sigerson are now playing inter-county. It used to be a bit of football when they were away from home and weren’t playing. That’s a legacy from the past we have moved on.
“Towards the end of my time, I felt it was a ticking box exercise that had to be played. Let’s see when we can just stick it in there.
“I don’t think it’s a competition that the GAA really take that seriously. It’s a legacy issue, and a bit like the Railway Cup they hope it will reach its natural death.”
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