No turning back tide but... AMATEUR ETHOS IS STILL VITAL
GAA DIRECTOR general Tom Ryan is not one for overstatement so when he warned yesterday of ‘a relentless erosion of the volunteer ethos’, it was worthy of attention.
And it wasn’t hard to see where he was coming from.
‘The single most important thing about the GAA is the ethos that underpins it,’ he suggested. ‘Everything that we do is inspired by a sense of community spirit, volunteerism and participation.’
But try to match that with the realities of running an association with total revenue for 2023 of €112 million.
Even as he presented his annual report, along with the 2023 financial report, the press briefing took place in the GAA Museum to the sound of drilling in the background. The whole scene provided a neat metaphor for how Croke Park is in a constant state of reinvention. Of redevelopment and upgrading with all of the attendant costs involved, the new seats being fitted in the Cusack Stand being one example.
An amateur association… but one competing in the modern arena of professional sport and trying to stay relevant all the time. Just some of the things that cropped up then at yesterday’s briefing.
Whether all county grounds should be opened up for use by ‘other sports’ rather than the current restriction around ‘events of national significance’. Only recently, Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork city hosted the Munster Rugby fixture against Super Rugby champions Crusaders.
OUR future lies with new models of ownership, municipal facilities, and shared grounds.’ In light of Casement Park’s inclusion as part of the Euro 2028 bid, Tom Ryan’s words were thought-provoking and timely. And represent a significant sea change in attitude.
There was the question of whether Croke Park itself would ever be an option for naming rights, in light of the furore over Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s rebranding with SuperValu.
Plus the delicate subject of negotiating with boxing promoters Matchroom over the possibility of the next Katie Taylor fight against Chantelle Cameron being staged at Croke Park in May, though the lack of detail or advancement on talks yesterday would suggest the odds are against it happening there.
Or what about inter-county team preparation costs spiralling to €40 million — and the issue of how to put that particular genie back into the bottle.
The time, energy and commitment involved in the modern inter-county game has brought Gaelic games to new heights — but those very demands threaten the idea of the players being amateur when it’s basically the equivalent of a professional high-performing environment. Except one where players don’t get paid and have to juggle all that commitment with working or studying.
So try and square all of that with Ryan’s opening statement.
The cracks, as he outlined himself, are there to see.
Such as the reality of a cottage industry of under-the-counter payments to ‘volunteer’ managers, coaches et cetera. Ryan mentioned the rising scale of costs facing county teams and the strain that is putting on county boards and mainly volunteer officials — and how that money is so badly needed for coaching and games development and other areas.
‘Much of that cost is borne out of either buying services which were previously made available to us voluntarily, or enlisting new expertise to aid preparing teams. Of course this presents a financial challenge but it also represents a relentless erosion of the volunteer ethos. County set-ups are increasingly professional in all but name.
‘By common perception, club management is now largely a paid undertaking as well. There are risks here for clubs, for the individuals concerned and for the entire association in terms of financial resources, taxation and reputation.’
Identifying the issue is one thing; doing something about it, another altogether. When Ryan talks about ‘it might mean enforcing where we have previously turned a blind eye’, he admitted that is far easier said than done. A previous committee tasked with addressing under-the-table payments couldn’t even find the table in the famous words of former president Peter Quinn.
In light of all of the above, Ryan warned: ‘The inevitable conclusion is that those values are at risk of erosion.’ That the amateur ethos of the association is in danger of being washed away by a tide of professionalism.
The thing is, the GAA is in such a vibrant, positive place on so many fronts. That’s part of the problem — that the relentless push towards higher standards has created its own success story. Which makes it so much harder to take a step back.
Just look at some of the main financial headlines. Topping the €100 million mark for consolidated revenue shows the level the GAA is now operating at. Throw in a consolidated surplus of €6.5m and gate receipts of €38.5m — an increase of 15 per cent on 2022 — and the picture is one of rude health.
That increase in gate receipts was generated by a 22 per cent increase in inter-county attendance figures with 1,697,778 spectators coming through the stiles.
This, at a time, when the GAA has taken the bold, laudable step of compressing the inter-county calendar so as to give a bigger, fairer window to the club player.
And for all those who like to try and paint the association as money-hungry, the bottom line is that for every euro generated by the GAA, 83 cent was reinvested directly into the development of the association across clubs, schools, counties, and provinces. The coaching and games development figure alone is €13.2m with the expanded programme now taking in 350 coaches across the country.
WHICH just leads back to the question: how to stop the tide? When as Ryan himself says, ‘the tide is only going one way’.
But Ryan is right when he says, ‘The single most important thing about the GAA is the ethos that underpins it.’
It’s for that reason that hard decisions need to be made to scale back costs. Scale back the demands on players, managers, county board officials and everyone who is meant to be volunteering their time.
Because otherwise, the future is a form of semi-professionalism.
A different type of GAA where county allegiances get swapped out for the franchise system that underpins so much of professional sport.
Where clubs merely become feeder units for pro or semi-pro franchises. Where parish and identity is watered down in favour of free movement.
Where the best players in Leinster might be contracted to play for the Dublin Warriors — and maybe create a new rivalry against Munster’s main Kerrybased franchise The Kingdom.
Where the ‘All-Ireland’ final is played at Coca-Cola Croke Park.
No thanks.
Tom Ryan understands that the ‘relentless erosion’ of the volunteer, amateur ideal could ultimately lead to a tipping point.
The difficulty comes in finding ways to continually upgrade and modernise — and yet hold on to the thing that makes the GAA such a unique success story.