Clare football manager Colm Collins claims the countyâs hurling management didnât seek to negotiate regarding his sons SĂ©an and PĂĄdraig playing both codes.
As it stands, the Collins brothers will only play football for the county in 2015 after hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald issued them with an ultimatum and his football counterpart insists that the decision was taken unilaterally.
âThe hurling management decided that they werenât going to have any dual players,â he said.
âThe players decided they were going to play football and thatâs where it is. Weâre not happy about it, we were happy to accommodate them in any possible way.
âIâve nothing to do with this, absolutely nothing. I was strongly of the view that things could stay going as they were. I suppose itâs good news for us [football team], but itâs not really news that we wanted. Both of them are mad sportsmen and theyâd love to play both. As a father, Iâd love to see them play both but itâs not to be.
âThe decision was made by the senior hurling management, so there were no negotiations. If theyâre going to reverse it then thatâs their decision too.â
Collins, speaking to Joe Seward on the Square Ball programme on Corkâs LifeFM 93.1 last evening, believes dual players are too easy a target when things go wrong.
âI would feel that it wasnât an issue,â he said. âIâd dearly love if all players were judged by the same yardstick as dual players are. I think in Cork that seemed to be the situation here too.
âIf you judge every player in the same way then thatâs fair enough but there are some people who think if you touch a football that youâre contaminated and there are probably people on the other side who think the opposite.
âThe player thatâs going to do it is going to have to be a very dedicated guy. Heâs going to have to make a lot of choices and he wonât have the down-time of another player but if heâs prepared to do it then I donât think thereâs any problem whatsoever.â
With Cork having three dual players â Aidan Walsh, Eoin Cadogan and Damien Cahalane â this year, the issue may be raised on Leeside during the winter, but Collins doesnât feel that the Clare situation will influence matters.
âI think that Brian Cuthbert and Jimmy Barry-Murphy will do things their own way, they wonât be following anybodyâs leads,â he said.
âIâve never had an angry word with Davy Fitz, never. I felt that the arrangement was fine but the hurling management didnât and theyâve made their decision.
âIt wasnât a 50-50 arrangement last year, it was three-quarters hurling. Iâm on the record as saying that Iâm totally for dual players.â
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