… now Bannermen must suffer.
The war chief ‘Little big Fitz’ has betrayed his ancestors.
He will never walk in the afterburren with his forefathers.
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He is going to be fine and pissed off with Anthony Daly this morning when he reads the examiner
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Jesus. He all but called it a stitch up. This has legs
Any chance of throwing it up there lads?
Here’s the part of the article he addresses it in
In a Sunday Times article in March, medical experts revealed that not a single case of on-the-field transmission of the Covid-19 virus had been confirmed in football, rugby union, rugby league or American football during a full year of the pandemic.
Detailed tracing of players who had tested positive for the virus was carried out in all the sports but in every case the transmission was put down to off-the-field contact, such as in meeting rooms, cars, and indoor activities.
In the context of those findings, and particularly when there has been no case of on-field transmission at any level of field sports in Ireland, it’s absolutely bizarre that the HSE identified as close contacts two members of the Clare team who marked the Wexford players last weekend, obliging them to undertake tests and restrict their movements for two weeks.
No Wexford players were considered close contacts, while both Clare players were stood down from yesterday’s game against Laois as a precaution.
Not considering any Wexford players as close contacts was all the stranger again with the risk involved when a large group had stayed in a hotel overnight before the game. It certainly wasn’t a surprise when Wexford were hit by another positive case of Covid-19, which resulted in the postponement of Sunday’s game against Kilkenny.
Before that game eight days ago, I saw the Wexford players gathered in a tight huddle. At the last water-break, Davy Fitzgerald gathered all of his players around him in a circle to issue instructions. One of the Wexford players who tested positive was in that huddle. So, if the guys right beside him weren’t considered close contacts, how in the name of God was the Clare fella he was marking deemed a close contact?
How did this come about? Who named the two Clare players? The official word which came out of Clare on Friday was that Wexford had identified the two Clare players as close contacts. The Wexford chairman Micheal Martin insisted in the Irish Independent that Wexford didn’t. Martin claimed that “it’s neither for Wexford GAA or any unit of the GAA to name anyone as close contacts. We have only been in contact with our own relevant public health”.
How does that make sense? Did someone in the HSE just pick up the paper and write down the names of the two Clare lads who were marking the Wexford players who tested positive? With the way the game has gone now, does anyone have any clue who is marking who?
With the current match-day restrictions, backroom teams are supposed to be limited to 12, plus two county board officials. Last Sunday, I reckon Wexford had close to 20 members in their backroom team. I know because I counted them.
I was comparing those numbers to Clare’s, who looked to have just the 12. How did those extra Wexford bodies get clearance?
Capping the backroom team at 12 is difficult for management teams. An extra three bodies – especially in an empty stadium – would make a huge difference, but you still have to draw the line somewhere.
I was thinking after last Sunday that getting extra people in – especially when they aren’t supposed to be in the ground in the first place – was risky business for Wexford in the event of there being a positive case in the group, especially in terms of contact tracing.
But when two of their players tested positive, the next thing that happens is that two Clare players are identified as close contacts.
The two Clare lads’ tests came back negative, which was no surprise, but their lives have been thrown up in a heap for two weeks now through absolutely no fault of their own.
That’s just not acceptable, and serious questions remain to be answered.
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Dark forces again
He pulled hard and clean there.
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Sounds like the Clare lads weren’t marking tight enough.
Legacies being tarnished everywhere. Its a very sad thing when a family goes to war.
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Wexford GAA has been put into a very difficult position here.
this has backfired very badly for clare GAA.
expect a kielyesque climbdown from lohan in the coming days
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Perhaps, but its very unedifying and I dont think its of benefit to anyone for this to have gone on as it has.
A nasty business.
The whole thing is a joke to be honest. The amount of unclear information and what protocols are just make a fuck of it all. The Clare mafia online are raging over it all though and how its all part of Davys masterplan.
You’d imagine a call between two representatives for the counties could have cleared this up very easily. That this couldnt have been done speaks volumes for the state of affairs in one of the counties, and the siege mentality in the other.
The Gaa and HSE need to clear this up. So if Wexford are adamant that the clare players weren’t named then how were the two specific players singled out as close contacts?
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would it be beyond the pale to ask if the HSE asked clare who was marking the 2 wexford lads?
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They didn’t. Clare got word out of the blue that two players were close contacts
I doubt they can name positive cases to people from another set up. It would have to come from the ones who tested positive.
Could it be a simple case of that they were asked who they were marking but the HSE took it as naming them as close contacts. Has it happened before that an opponent has been made isolate from playing a game? Why would the HSE just start it now in this instance?
A brother of one of the positive cases trained with the Wexford squad during the week? That could have been easily avoided