Avoided players given cards at ground (8)
I believe the answer is:
eschewed
'avoided players' is the definition.
'eschewed' can be an answer for 'avoided' (eschewing is a kind of avoiding). I am unsure of the 'players' bit.
'cards at ground' is the wordplay.
'cards at' becomes 'es' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ground' becomes 'chewed' (chewing is a kind of grinding).
'es'+'chewed'='ESCHEWED'
'given' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for eschewed that I've seen before include "left alone?" , "Shunned, kept away from" , "Shunned or avoided" , "Steered clear of" , "not made use of" .)