MISSING THE POINT
Matches in Perth and Boston do not promote games, instead they highlight several issues that exist at home
How much money do the GPA actually need?
THROUGH the rheumy November light came clarity. Never before has the GAA needed to tend its home patch with more care.
Foreign fields should be abandoned to others. No good will come from pursuing jaunts at a time when the substance of Gaelic games is confronted by major challenges.
The tensions in the sport between the elite level and the club game are the most serious problem confronting the GAA leadership.
This has long been a point of agonising but the unhappiness of club players has been made vividly palpable by the establishment of the Club Players’ Association. No more significant event occurred in the GAA in 2017.
Resolving the status of the tens of thousands in its membership starved of matches for most of the year should be the consuming priority for the Croke Park leadership.
It is an existential problem, beside which the future of the International Rules is a distracting trifle. It has an honourable history and the game has always attracted robust support in this country, from supporters but especially from players.
However, it comes at a time of year when club championships are being squeezed to completion, and it is a further complication for teams when their star county men are required to attend Ireland training, before committing to a two-week trip abroad or, when Tests are in this country, training camps.
Some Dublin footballers were the targets of undeserved criticism for prioritising their clubs over their country, but their decision was the only natural one to make for people faithful to the principles that are supposedly at the heart of the entire organisation: that the games are for everyone, and that the club is the atomic particle from which this entire universe is built.
The extra burden on clubs could be justified if the International Rules concept was loved by both its parents, but the affections of the Australians, long suspect, remain a cause for serious doubt.
The attendance at the second Test in Perth last Saturday was down almost a quarter on the crowd that went to the game in the city three years ago.
A cause of further anxiety should be the seeming determination of Australia to play a Test in America next year. This illustrates their ambitions for an international market, and it is patently obvious they are not satisfied with Ireland.
If that is the case, then the GAA leadership should respond sensibly and call a halt. It would frustrate players and those officials who get a trip to the other side of the world, but it would constitute a visionary act to accompany those words assuring people the leaders of the association are serious about the plight of club players. The second international manifestation of Gaelic games this month could call on none of the history, dignity or relevance of the International Rules. The Super 11s is a gimmick conceived with money rather than sporting expansion in mind. That is not a wild swipe, but simply a reiteration of what former GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell said in an interview last year. He was responding to the reaction in Ireland to the first Super 11s in 2015. ‘Some of the commentary around the Fenway game I found bemusing,’ he said. ‘Like, we’ve made no bones about the reasons why we’ve gone to the US. It’s to raise money. The GAA currently isn’t in a position to fund the programmes that we have in a way that meets the level of demand from players. So we’ve two choices. We can go fight the GAA to get more money or we try to be creative.’
Farrell was too often underestimated as a leader within the most popular sports in the country, and his candour then was refreshing.
Since then, and prior to his departure earlier this year, the GPA and the GAA announced a new five-year agreement. It was revealed in July 2016, and committed the GAA to funding the players’ body at a cost of €6.2 million per annum over a three-year term.
This, apparently, is not enough to fund the GPA, however, as Farrell’s successor Dermot Earley (left) made clear before last week’s foray back to Boston.
‘I don’t want to be in a position to say to a player “Sorry, I can’t provide that service for you” or say “Yeah, you’ll have that service but have to wait six months for that” or say to a squad that I’m going to ration you because we just don’t have the funding.’
The Super 11s itself is not a fundraising vehicle, said Earley. It is clearly, though, part of a process of building the GPA’s identity within lucrative American markets. Last month, it held a dinner in New York where the most expensive table cost $50,000.
Just how much money do the GPA need? It’s a question that has been repeatedly asked and no convincing answer is forthcoming.
Their money-making was given a sobering context thanks to the vigilance of Colm O’Rourke, the former Meath luminary drawing attention to salary costs of €912,121 for 12 people in the GPA. When is enough? Enough is enough — or it should be for Croke Park.
One attempt for justifying the Super 11s silliness is giving an international dimension to Gaelic games. But why does it need it? There are noises made about the threat of globalisation to indigenous sports, yet the GAA has thrived like never before in the last 25 years – a time when the Premier League, on our doorstep, launched the hungriest, most successful global expansion of any sporting franchise, ever.
Tending to local concerns should be the priority. There are enough of them that need addressing.
GAA’s leadership should respond sensibly and call a halt
CAMPAIGN IS TOO LONG — BUCKLEY
JOHNNY BUCKLEY would happily forego the long drawn-out St Patrick’s Day climax for a calendar year competition — if Dr Crokes manage to get over the considerable challenge of Nemo Rangers in this Sunday’s AIB Munster club final. ‘Playing Paddy’s Day is special, but it takes a long time to get there. ‘You want to play as many matches as you can and it would be great to finish it off in that one year. As players, you have a certain run of form, and it would be great to be able to continue that into an AllIreland series as was suggested.’ He has frustrating memories of the last final clash between the two southern giants back in January 2011 when the Cork champions stormed into a 13point lead, and yet were still left hanging on. Reigning All Ireland champions Dr Crokes haven’t lost a game in the Munster championship since. ‘We were just blown out of the water that day for sure,’ said Buckley (right). ‘Nemo were scoring from everywhere. We just couldn’t handle it. We’ll take a bit from that to learn what we can. That was a tough pill to swallow.’ Buckley also defended team-mate Colm Cooper over the controversy that surrounded his recent testimonial dinner where the tables alone were set to generate €250,000. ‘Being the first one to do it, there was always going to be that uproar. I think, throughout the whole thing, he handled himself impeccably. We’ve been lucky to be playing with him for a number of years. We were delighted for him to have a night where he could celebrate his career.’