A social media leak of strict GAA club rules has raised questions about what should be expected from amateur players

Over the weekend, a set of rules and regulations from an unknown Irish club management team to players went viral on social media. Likely leaked from a WhatsApp group onto X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the rules do seem hugely prohibitive. For example, anyone planning on heading off to Australia, Canada, America or anywhere else for the summer can't be part of the 2024 senior panel.

Other stipulations include no holidays during the June to October championship season unless approved by management and the leadership group, and no drinking during the same period. Infringement of either of these could lead to suspension or removal from the panel.

Are the rules for GAA players becoming too strict or are they an essential part of a successful team? Dr Stephen McIvor, sports psychology consultant and lecturer at TU Dublin's School of Biological, Health and Sports Sciences joined RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime to put the rules into perspective. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full above).

McIvor describes them as "very archaic, very old school, very restrictive, very controlling. When we look at the coach leadership as 'climate engineers', they are responsible for creating that climate and adding to that climate, but certainly on the surface these look very restrictive."

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McIvor says the rules mentioned the player leadership. "Were the player leaders reflective of where the players are? That changes the whole dynamic of this, because then you have autonomy, you have ownership. If it's not, and they are enforcing this controlling, lack of empowering rules, it's really backwards. It's not useful for them and it's quite naive. I probably shouldn't say that because I don't know who the coaches are, but it's certainly lacking in foresight".

It may sound restrictive, but is it understandable if you want players to be ready for training and matches, and to be on call? "This is the balance between the challenge and support of coaching", says McIvor. "The expectation on these coaches are at a very high level, I've no doubt. And we know that when we create a collective that work hard together, they commit together, then we get a serious bounce effect from that in terms of performance.

"But if we cut ourselves off, in terms of, say two or three players come back from Canada or Australia in September, and they're very, very good, and you've got a few injuries - do you then leave them out? Do you then sacrifice the ambitions of the team because you've tied yourself to these limiting rules?

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"We know that if we want to motivate people to grow more, we have to give them some sense of autonomy, you have to give them a level of competence. To create a team ethos, they might actually socialise a lot more during the summer and actually create a collective where it allows them to bring more energy into games come the weekend. If we live in a very controlling, restrictive environment, this can lead into fear - 'I don't want to make a mistake, I don't want to lose the match' - and it breaks down that collective ability".

Alcohol is another thing on the naughty list for these GAA lads, but we saw rugby players during the recent World Cup having alcohol. They also got time off in the middle of the tournament to spend time with family and friends. Is that a better way to go about things?

"100%, it's a better way," says McIvor. "We know we get active recovery from socialising with friends. Like by playing golf - I saw golf is also ruled out. A player might play golf on a Friday, have a few drinks on a Saturday night after a match and they're going to get that bounce effect, they're going to get that active recovery. When they come back into their performances, like the Irish team did when they had their break, they have that energy level. 'We're here to express ourselves', as Andy Farrell brilliantly often says, it absolutely is key."