GAA now in survival mode as pressure mounts: Barr
CIARAN Barr enjoyed his proudest moment as a player when he led the Antrim hurling team out at Croke Park for the 1989 All-ireland final against Tipperary.
Defeat may have been the Saffrons’ lot on that occasion but their unexpected surge into the decider — which was highlighted by a stunning semi-final win over Offaly — further convinced Barr that the GAA had the capacity to transport players into a sporting paradise.
After wearing the skipper’s armband at Headquarters 31 years ago, he today carries the important mantle of Head of Finance and Operations within the vibrant Gaelic Players’ Association.
And if his role at the core of Antrim’s bid to enter the history books kept him at concert pitch, then his current mission within the inner sanctum of one of the island’s biggest sporting bodies carries its own daunting responsibilities.
Never one to shirk a challenge either on the field or off it, Barr is squaring up to what he feels will be a particularly difficult mission for the GAA going forward.
“No matter how you look at things, cash is the bloodstream in any body or organisation,” he pointed out. “Unfortunately, just as is the case in other areas of society, the GAA has been heavily impacted. It has to preserve cash where it can in order to remain alive as a body.
“I would sincerely hope that we get the chance to play the games which have been mapped out for the remainder of 2020 and after that we have all to steel ourselves to deal with the longer-term implications of this year. The fact of the matter is that we are on a survival mission here, that’s the long and the short of it.”
The decision by the Republic’s government on Tuesday that matches must be staged behind closed doors for the next three weeks has come as another blow to GAA chiefs. However, the fact that the Gaelic Players’ Association’s proposed blueprint for a new annual fixtures format going forward appears to have found favour with the Fixtures Review Task Force must be seen as a plus factor.
And it would appear that for the moment at least the current restrictions on crowd numbers at GAA matches north of the border will remain, although it has been emphasised that organisers are still required to carry out a risk assessment at individual match venues.
While it had been hoped that the restrictions might be lifted before the dates of county finals are reached, this now seems unlikely.
“We have to accept that society in general is quite fragile at the moment, more fragile than we thought at first, and as our games are very much part of that society then it follows that we suffer,” stressed Barr.
“The initial task must be to try and stabilise the GAA and if we can do that then I think we can move on to perhaps re-shaping the organisation and coming up with new investment for our games. This will in itself be a huge challenge but then the GAA has come through difficult times in the past.”