Cooper testimonial first of many, say GPA

The game is at the highest level it has ever been

GPA chief executive Dermot Earley says that any county player is free to mark their retirement in any way they want but he does expect more testimonial dinners following the celebration of Colm Cooper’s career in Dublin next Friday night.

In anticipation of more events like Cooper’s dinner, Earley says that he plans to sit down with GAA director-general Paraic Duffy and discuss the matter and to see what protocols can be put in place.

‘The way I see it, and the GPA’s position, is that a player can mark his retirement in any way he sees fit,’ Earley said. ‘We provide support through our development programmes for all players so the Kerry hurler is just as important to us as the Kerry football. Colm is just as entitled to avail of those programmes.

‘But we may see more of these events happening. The game is at the highest level it has ever been and the profile of players has never been higher. We need to develop some protocols, criteria or rules around this and it is something I will be bringing up with the GAA.

‘I wouldn’t say I would like to see these events prohibited but I’d like to see protocols introduced, look at how funds are generated and where they go.’

The GPA recently hosted a successful gala dinner in New York, where tables cost $50,000 a head, but Earley defended that fund-raising initiative as the money will be fed directly back into services for county players.

Earley said that in the past year, there has been a 20 per cent rise of players who have availed of their various services.

‘It was a success in that we get to raise vital funds for our player development programmes. Over the last year, we have seen a 20 per cent rise in the number of players availing of the service, And that’s a cost.

‘We don’t get enough from the GAA to actually cover that cost,’ Earley points out.

‘We have to look elsewhere and fund-raising in the States gives us that opportunity. Every cent of that money goes back and is spent on the players.

‘I don’t want to be in a position to say to a player “Sorry, I can’t provide that service for you” or “you will have to wait six months for that service” because we don’t have the funding. So yes, we aim big and I think that’s a value within the Association. It has been successful over there and we will continue to do so.’

The GPA’s next venture in the States is the AIG Fenway Classic, where hurlers from Galway, Dublin, Clare and Tipperary will compete in the Super 11 concept at Fenway Park in Boston.

Earley accepts there is still a degree of scepticism about the concept in Ireland but he says that they are expecting over 30,000 at the iconic baseball ground on November 19.

‘I can understand the scepticism. They might say that it’s not hurling because it isn’t the conventional 15-a-side hurling that people would actually be used to seeing here.

‘But I think we need to promote the game to a wider audience and this is an opportunity to do just that.’

There is cynicism about promoting hurling to the Irish-American market when the game itself is struggling in so many counties in Ireland. It has been suggested that the GPA should use the Super 11s concept to reward the winners of the Lory Meagher or Nicky Rackard competitions.

‘That is something we will look at in the future,’ Earley said about the idea of bringing weaker hurling counties to the States for the Super 11s.

‘We have actually thought of that but I think we want to showcase the best and we have our All-Ireland champions this year, All-Ireland champions from 2016 and the League champions from 2016.

‘As the game does develop over there, yes I would love to see all teams possibly go over and partake in some sort of tournament over there,’ said Earley, who was speaking in DCU at the announcement of this year’s GPA scholarships for the DCU School of Business. Recipients included Mayo’s Barry Moran, Sligo star Cian Breheny and Conor Maginn of Down.