Mulvey defends financial support of Gaelic games
SPORT Ireland chairman Kieran Mulvey and new Minister for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, have both launched a staunch defence of the state’s financial support schemes for inter-county teams.
On Wednesday morning at Dublin’s Alexander Hotel, it was announced that the government will commit €1million to women’s GAA over the next two years, with €500,000 to be shared between county squads in ladies football and camogie in 2017 and 2018.
It’s a squad-based version of the player grant scheme secured by the men’s Gaelic Players Association which currently stands at €900,000 per annum, much reduced from its original €3.5m allocation.
While there have been critics of the decision to give state funding to amateur GAA players – RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly and respected academic Paul Rouse being two of the most high-profile – Mulvey refuted any suggestion that state funding represents any threat to the amateur ideal that underpins Ireland’s indigenous games.
‘I don’t see it as breaking any code, any principles, any ethics,’ Mulvey told
Sportsmail. ‘And I certainly don’t see it as introducing individual professionalism in the sport.
‘In the modern world, it’s very, very difficult to sustain the concept of amateur sport. We want to retain it. We believe in it, particularly with regard to our national games.
‘But there are all kinds of economic pressures and educational pressures, family pressures, on players. If we expect Gaelic players, in all disciplines, in both genders, to perform to the highest international standards, which in fact they do – the athleticism of these athletes is truly phenomenal – well then I see it as supportive and assistive.
‘My view about Joe is… look, Joe is a soundbite merchant supreme. Paul has a broader understanding of the thing. Issues that Paul would raise we’d have to listen to.’
While Brolly has painted the GPA’s player grant scheme as a corrosive influence, Rouse suggested: ‘It’s very difficult to understand the logic behind the state giving money to intercounty players.’
The GPA is understood to be lobbying for a figure reported as being double their original funding on the back of players being used to front Government policy campaigns in areas such as tourism or childhood obesity awareness. If there’s a flip-side to the ground-breaking deal for women’s GAA, it’s that the pot looks limited for the GPA which is next in line to renegotiate a deal.
‘It’s been at €900,000 per annum for the last number of years. Unless there is an overall increase in sport funding, I don’t see that figure necessarily rising at the moment,’ revealed Mulvey, suggesting an expanded scheme is a non-runner.
Minister O’Donovan, is a keen advocate of state support for GAA players in principle, but clearly has made a deal for ladies football and camogie a priority in the weeks since his appointment.
‘I think you can maintain the amateur ethos and recognise that people incur costs for going out and giving up time and going out training in the winter when it would be easier to sit in front of the fire,’ added Mulvey.
‘Physiotherapists have to be paid; nutritional advice has to be sought, there’s travel and things like that. I think you can maintain this ethos and recognise that players are doing all this, are “doing the state some service” as the famous quote goes.
‘What the government are trying to do is recognise that, without these people, we wouldn’t have the product that is the envy of the world. There is no other country in the world that has the level of following, and participation, in a domestic, indigenous game.’
Mulvey sees the government’s financial support scheme as nothing but a positive to ease the obvious financial demands on players and county squads striving for excellence.
‘The commitment of the government to promote women’s sport in the Gaelic Athletic Association family, particularly indigenous sports, was to mirror and reflect what had been done with the GPA in the past. It’s around enhancing participation in sport, improving the quality, the facilities available and creating high performance.
‘I think the GAA at the moment is performing an excellent balancing act.
‘They are under a multiplicity of pressures. They operate in what is an increasingly professional world where funding, sustainability, facilities, maintaining player welfare and interest is all linked – the world is getting more complex.
‘We are competing internationally with the best in cricket, hockey, rugby, soccer, equestrian, boxing – this phrase we use which we get tired of – “we box above our weight…” We don’t just box above our weight, we compete at a level that few countries of our size sustain themselves, who have only one or two sports.’
Helen O’Rourke, Ladies Gaelic Football Association, also dismisses any idea of government funding being at odds with the amateur ideal. ‘I wouldn’t have any worry on that front at all. If you look at the level of grants that the women’s associations get, what we’re trying to achieve with our sport, all our funds go into development projects, increasing participation and all that.’