It’s time for GPA to put the begging bowl away

THE GPA was back on the begging bowl circuit last weekend when they held a high profile fund-raising dinner in Boston. With table prices going for as high as $50,000, it is likely that the players’ body pulled in something close to the $650,000 raised at a similar shakedown held in the city 12 months previously. That’s a staggering sum, especially when it is added to the €6million per annum which the GAA contribute to funding the affairs of the players’ body. So why does the GPA needs all this cash? I have always supported player welfare but I am finding it hard to figure how elite players need such expansive and expensive supports to be compensated for playing a part-time sport. And if the GPA is truly interested in player welfare, surely its priority should be in addressing why inter-county players need these supports in the first place rather than in begging for money to pay for them. If the intercounty season is too long or too demanding, why don’t they start issuing ultimatums that their players will not train more than two evenings a week? Or why don’t they inform county managers that players will not be signing ‘charters’ which in effect shackles many of their members to a lifestyle which is neither enjoyable nor healthy. Surely, that should be the GPA’s priority rather than passing around a begging bowl on foreign shores which does little other than cheapen all of us.