GAA authorities are investigating 17 counties for allegedly breaking the regulations on training camps and challenge games.
Donnchadh Boyle joined Ger Gilroy on Thursday’s OTB AM to go through the sports pages and highlighted a report in the Irish Independent about the ongoing probe.
It is understood 10 counties have admitted their squads embarked on extended getaways while further clarification is being sought by a further seven counties.
But Boyle has questioned whether the rule should continue in light of how many counties have appeared to have ignored the legislation.
“Until congress last year there was a little bit of a loophole there in that there was really no punishment for breaking that,” Boyle told OTB.
“They changed that over the autumn. You were meant to lose a home game in the league the following year.
With 17 counties under investigation for possibly breaching the 'club month' rule - what's the best way to enforce it so there's a level playing field for all? pic.twitter.com/2C4dmzw0IF
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) May 31, 2018
“We’ve heard all the lovely explanations from the fellows who have been rolled out over the last couple of weeks.
“The rule is there to protect club month and that’s a lovely idea. But if it’s not going to be enforced and if it’s going to be ignored on this kind of scale – or at least challenged – you’d wonder what the point of it is.
“Every county approached April differently – some of them didn’t have Championship at all. In some of these scenarios they probably weren’t interfering with a whole lot of club activity anyway.
“The GAA rule book is an absolute minefield. If you can interpret that in a certain way to suit your own agenda then that’s what people will do.”
James Hopper
