Real problem is insular outlook of GPA’s Flynn
PROBLEM CHILD is a phrase heaving with meaning in Irish sport. It echoes, if not exactly mimics, the infamous description John Delaney used in describing the League of Ireland. It was in a radio interview five and a half years ago that Delaney said the league ‘is a difficult child for the organisation’.
This infuriated supporters of domestic soccer, and over the years the comment came to be remembered as ‘problem child’.
It had a more powerful, dysfunctional ring to it.
Paul Flynn, the chief executive of the Gaelic Players’ Association, used the term as part of his body’s astonishing response to the GAA’s annual report, inferring from it that the inter-county game ‘is being presented as the GAA’s problem child’.
This stemmed from director general Tom Ryan drawing attention to the enormous costs of preparing inter-county teams. Ryan put the figure at €29.74million for 2019, which was an increase of 11.6 per cent on the 2018 total.
In a febrile political environment, and with the economic conditions that will emerge in the aftermath of Brexit still to be assessed, it was responsible of him to state that these costs may not be sustainable even in the short term.
‘Quite apart from being sustainable, it is not desirable,’ he wrote.
‘Yes, counties will invariably secure the funds they need, but at the cost of immense pressure on the officers. This outlay represents a huge proportion of our collective resources.
‘So, the other unseen cost is all of the other GAA plans in a county that are foregone or neglected – coaching, club support, facilities and so on.’
This last point was important, and for all the scrutiny that should be applied to the GAA position on various issues, Ryan is correct in raising these concerns.
It constitutes good leadership. He acknowledges the need for intervention but also reveals his hesitation at the prospect given ‘our track record with similar rulebased enforcement around county teams is mixed’.
Change is desperately needed, though, given how the increase in preparation around county teams is not only devouring resources, but is also decimating notional club schedules. Even if this is a tirelessly argued reality, it was still important to see the most senior official in the GAA comment on it.
And yet Paul Flynn has managed to take great umbrage at this. The GPA has decided to take a matter that is affecting every tier of the GAA and make it about themselves.
The inter-county game is thrilling and vital and it generates revenues for the association, but it is only in the past two decades it has become the commercial generator from which the GPA so handsomely benefits, among other units of the association.
This acceleration in growth at the elite level of the game has, however, had a deleterious effect on clubs.
It is at the granular level that tens of thousands play and coach and expect to express their love for the GAA. The inter-county level is concentrated on a tiny fraction of the overall GAA membership, and just because they bring the profile and popularity that attracts sponsors, does not mean the wider membership matter less.
‘Our inter-county games are the revenue generating machine that allows the GAA to compete with rugby, soccer and other sports for hearts and minds of the Irish public,’ said Flynn’s statement.
‘Our inter-county games are the flagship promotional and developmental tool that keeps the GAA in the news and journalists, pundits, administrators, coaches, physios and all the other professionals working within the inter-county games in jobs.’
Perhaps there should be a brief pause here to give thanks for keeping us all in employment.
The statement also says ‘the GAA is also lucky to have those players who give so much of themselves, often to their own detriment, to allow it to generate the revenues that keeps the association afloat’.
But surely if the toll of the inter-county game is often to the detriment of the players, then that is just one more problem created by its current appetites.
Negotiations between the GPA and GAA on a new agreement are ongoing, and Flynn’s bloviating statement had the feel of posturing about it.
Elsewhere in these pages, one of the outstanding servants of the GAA at many levels expresses deeply-held fears about its future.
Problems abound, and many of them stem from the power enjoyed by inter-county managers and the consequent demands made on players, administrators and volunteers.
Tom Ryan did the GAA a service in recognising the unsustainability of costs around teams.
Addressing it must come next.