SHAMATEURISM!

GAA and GPA’s infuriating double speak with regard to the notion of whether to embrace professionalism, the halfway house of semi-pro, or the status quo will only exacerbate the pressures on young players

‘EIGHT OUT OF 10 FELT THAT TOO MUCH WAS BEING ASKED OF THEM’

LONG before Donald Trump offered proof that high office can be low-brow, Harry S Truman showed the way. ‘Richard Nixon is a nogood, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he’d lie just to keep his hand in,’ once spat the former US president.

The pity is that even such coarse eloquence is beyond the wit of The Donald’s tweet machine, but we were also reminded this week that speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth does not necessarily mean you are lying, it just means you are not certain of where the truth lies.

And that is not semantics as there is quite a difference. Gaelic Players Association (GPA) CEO Paul Flynn took a bit of a kicking for his denial that his organisation is driven by a desire to take the intercounty game, or at least those parts of it that are commercially viable, down a professional road.

‘There is one big misconception out there at the moment that we’re out of control and that we are trying to drive this to professionalism,’ said Flynn.

Inevitably, that invited comments – made by Flynn earlier this year – to be resurrected when he declared in a newspaper interview: ‘I would not rule it out. The amateur ethos of the association is important and it is important to our members. However, when we survey our members semi-professionalism is something they would be interested in. There is a big difference between that and full-time professionalism.

‘Define amateurism as well. We have amateur athletes who represent us at the Olympics but who are in receipt of funding and who train full-time, so amateurism and semiprofessionalism it is a grey area between both anyway.’

And, right now, it is not just the GPA who are squinting through the grey fog for that light at the end of amateur tunnel.

The response to Flynn from the GAA was predictable: ‘They (the GPA) always said there was no move towards professionalism or semi-professionalism. I don’t know where this is coming from,’ dismissed a GAA source at the time.

Really? It might just be that it was coming from Croke Park.

After all a report – commissioned by former GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl – from a committee set up to address the challenges that could face the GAA by its 150th anniversary, has never seen the light of day despite being finalised in January 2018.

It was a broad-ranging document (leaked to a newspaper), suggesting a more streamlined governance model – including the abolishment of provincial councils – and a measured geographical strategy in developing stadia, but that is not why it is gathering dust.

The headline-grabbing proposal of the Towards 2034 report suggested: “By 2034 the GAA will have developed a model to recognise the time and effort contributed by senior inter-county players and their respective managers.

‘This will facilitate effective budgeting where senior intercounty players and managers will retain their existing amateur status but have their value to the Association, and their enormous commitment to their sport, recognised by a defined and agreed allowance.’

In other words, it was an acceptance that a semi-professional model was the way forward.

That is not an inevitability – after all this is just a report – but the GAA can hardly damn Flynn and the GPA for one minute paying lip service to its amateur ethos, while the next wondering aloud when the monthly cheque will be in the post. After all, proclaiming amateur status as nonnegotiable while sitting on an internal report which declares that such a view is not sustainable in the long-term is surely the GAA speaking out of both sides of its mouth?

The problem is that on one side the GPA appears to measure its worth on how much money it can bleed from the GAA as its price for maintaining the status quo, while on the other the GAA has decided that amateurism actually does have a cash price and one it is willing to pay for. You might be tempted to call that an Irish solution to an Irish problem, but it is no solution at all.

The GPA has committed to providing an action plan to address the issues raised by last year’s Economic and Social Research Institute report on inter-county players, which morphed from a tale of misery into a bargaining chip.

‘The game is becoming more demanding on our members. So, the need for us to provide support in dealing with these increasing pressures on players has never been greater. In 2018, we saw 1,553 development-focused programmes delivered, a 6% increase and 1,107 individual players engaged in our programmes, an increase of 17%. Progress we will continue to build on in the coming year,’ declared Flynn in the 2018 GPA report.

Progress? Is that really the best way to counteract a culture where young lives are being swallowed whole by a hobby, one which eight out of every 10 players claimed limited time with their families while they also felt too much was asked of them? Never mind, says the GPA, here is another free counselling service.

Surely, the only way to curtail the damage on players is by limiting those demands by legislating for a shorter inter-county season.

And surely the only way the GAA can stop the drive to professionalism is by ensuring it has a fixture calendar that is suitable for all its members, club and county, even if the price is a reduction in income.

Who is codding who here? It is not the GPA executive or the GAA leadership who are paying the price, but the increasing number of inter-county players who decide to opt out – well over a dozen already for next season – is a sign that many are getting sick of the treadmill.

We are willing to bet some do not believe it when one side of the mouth tells them they are going to have their lives damaged in pursuit of a strange kind of glory, and the other says it is okay because the damage can be fixed.

Now that’s a lie even Nixon would dare not tell.