Griffin quits – lack of confidence in management

THE decision by Tony Griffin to call a halt on his inter-county hurling career came as a huge surprise to followers everywhere, particularly throughout Clare.
In a statement issued by the Ballyea man at the weekend, he confirmed that his decision was influenced by a lack of confidence in the current county senior management structure, adding, “I cannot dedicate myself to something that I do not fully believe in”.
“As a player I take a certain amount of responsibility for our poor season in 2009,” he said, “but I feel justified in stating that the correct structure was not in place in order for the team to operate to its true potential”.
In his statement, Griffin said, “essentially, there are two reasons for his decision. “In February I launched a sports management business, Sports Academy International, and its continual growth will mean that I will not be able to commit the necessary time to hurling that the modern game demands. I cannot give inter-county hurling anything less that my very best and my inability to commit myself totally has forced me to question my future on the field”.
Griffin’s announcement comes as the controversy rages on over Mike McNamara’s position as team manager. Twenty six players recently voted no confidence in the Scariff man but last week’s county board meeting strongly backed McNamara to continue as team boss.
Last month Griffin was one of the organisers of a players meeting which, it is believed, voiced opposition to the Scariff man continuing at the helm but Griffin denied that was the case saying that it was “simply called to see where we, as players, are going and what we want to achieve. The players were unhappy with performances this year and we have to accept some of the responsibility. This is a very important time in Clare hurling after the success of the U-21s. We spoke about structures and how they might be improved and our views were brought back to the county board by team captain Brian O’Connell”.
In this week’s statement Griffin said that “after long and deep consideration and having spoken at length with my family I have decided to call an end to my time as an inter-county hurler.
I consider myself blessed to have been able to fulfil my lifelong dream of representing my county at the highest level possible over the course of ten seasons.”
He went onto say that he “always believed we had the potential to win an All-Ireland championship in my time with Clare and we came close in ’02, ’04, ’05 and ’06.
“An All-Ireland with my county was always my ultimate ambition and therefore leaving the game without a medal is one disappointment I will unfortunately have to take with me.
“It has been an eventful career. There were many testing times when crushing defeats in Croke Park and Thurles left me asking ‘why we do this,’ but my love for hurling and respect for my teammates brought me back, rejuvenated and eager to renew our efforts.”
Griffin goes onto talk about his time based in Canada and how he managed to continue his involvement with Clare.
“For four seasons I commuted from Canada to Ennis to represent Clare throughout the league campaigns of ’04, ’05 ’06 and ’07 and I am appreciative of the efforts of the Clare County Board to facilitate this.”
“Possibly my most enjoyable year in a Clare jersey was 2006 when I was convinced by our manager Anthony Daly to postpone one year of university in order to concentrate on winning an All Ireland. While we came undone in the semi final against Kilkenny I was proud and honoured to be the first player from my club, Ballyea, to receive an All Star later that year.
In 2007 hurling took a back seat to a 7,000km charity cycle that set out to raise funds for cancer research and care in Ireland and beyond. This proved to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life”, he states before going to to express thanks to “the entire GAA community for helping us reach our goal of raising $1,000,000, which was recently achieved”.
In 2008 injury plagued my season so I was happy to put many personal ghosts to rest in 2009 despite the county’s hugely disappointing season”
Concluding, Griffin said that he has “every faith that under the correct circumstances and in particular, considering the successful campaign of our Under 21s, Clare will soon be back where we belong, at the very top”. He finished his statement by wishing “all my team mates the very best in 2010 and beyond”.