Bad weather blights football

By Dan O'Neill

The weather conditions on Sunday will have done more to convince any doubters of the new proposals to abolish winter football than any arguments from the Football Development Committee members.

Five of the 16 fixtures scheduled in the National Football League were postponed because of waterlogged pitches.

I was one of the few who braved the conditions to see the Derry-Clare Division 1B tie. Amazingly, this game got the go-ahead despite the torrential rain and a very strong gale. Thankfully, the muddy conditions at Celtic Park didn't ruin the game and the standard of play was reasonably high considering.

It was never going to be a high-scoring affair as both defences had the upper-hand with Henry Downey, Kieran McKeever and Gary Coleman in particular showing their best for the Oak Leafers.

The Bannermen, who went in at half time with a four point to three lead, failed to score after the interval and the home side, after making some half-time changes, were too strong. Substitute Ronan Rocks and experienced forward Dermott Heaney put the game out of reach with two late points.

The Derry faithful were left singing in the rain as their side maintained their 100% league record to date.

Elsewhere, the young Dublin outfit were hugely impressive as they defeated old rivals Kerry by two-points. As is usual when these two meet, there was plenty of action from start to finish.

Kerry will be very disappointed as they failed to put two first-half penalties by the excellent Davy Byrne in goal and missed a number of chances. Despite Paul Curran's expulsion for a second yellow card, the Dubs held out to win a highly entertaining contest.

Sligo's impressive development under Mickey Moran continued with a win over Down at Pairc Esler. A mistake by veteran defender Michael Magill nine minutes into the second half let in Sligo's Sean Davey to score a decisive goal and give the visitors their first win over Down in Newry.

Donegal's long journey south was rewarded as James Gallagher scored two goals in their rout of Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Louth, Offaly, Leitrim, Carlow, Laois Wexford and Waterford were also winners over the weekend.

But with the eagerly awaited Armagh v Galway, and Fermanagh v Meath games amongst others disrupted by the winter weather, serious debate is needed on the merits of the present National Football League winter programme.

GAA ignores drugs issue

I was disappointed to read of the GAA's decision to distance themselves from out-of-competition testing, a key element of the Irish Sport's Council's (ISC) new drug-testing policy.

The ISC's anti-doping programme was launched a fortnight ago by Jim McDaid, the Tourism, Sport and Recreation minister in the 26 Counties. Sub titled `2000 - A Clean Start', the programme provides for a total of 600 tests on athletes in its first year. Forty per cent of these tests will be out-of-competition.

Statistically, this sort of testing, carried out at the homes or workplaces of athletes, is twice as likely to to throw up positive results as in-competition testing.

Pat Daly is secretary of the GAA medical group which is studying the Irish Sport's Council programme and will report on the matter to Congress next April. He has claimed it is `unlikely' that the out-of-competition tests would be allowed by the GAA as it was considered an infringement of human rights.

Furthermore, Daly believes that the programme is designed for full-time professionals who expect the imposition of out-of-competition testing and not the amateurs of the GAA.

Although it is true that the GAA is on a steeper learning curve with regard to anti-doping testing, athletes in other sports such as cycling and swimming are already subjected to testing from international governing bodies.

Over the next twelve months, only the Olympic sports will be targeted for testing, giving the GAA extra time to put anti-doping regulations in place and educate players. But any refusal by the GAA to support out-of-competition testing would be a major blow to the programme.

Despite the fact that there is no hard evidence to suggest widespread drug taking in football and hurling, we must not be naïve enough to think that it is nonexistent and have to support the new programme in its entirety.