Renowned fitness coach Mike McGurn says high-level GAA players are making too many sacrifices.
McGurn is currently involved with the Antrim senior set-up but has previously worked in a variety of sports, including soccer, rugby and boxing, told the Irish News there is too much focus on abstinence in the GAA.
There has to be a balance. There is too much made of this abstinence and this priest-like existence. There has to be balance because you've only one life.
He contended that players in both rugby league and rugby union - two sports in which he worked - had a better balance. They worked like crazy but they knew how to enjoy themselves.
There is too much abstinence in the GAA compared to other sports - and I'm not just talking about drink. I'm talking about nights out and going to restaurants and going on a holiday. Paul O'Connell wouldn't have survived until 35 without having time off.
The argument he makes is almost diametrically opposed to that put forward by Stephen Hunt at the weekend who indicated that GAA players were not near as monkish in their discipline as those involved in English football.
