Cusack returns as GPA eye representation on GAA’s CCCC
FORMER Cork star Donal Óg Cusack has made a return to the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) as the organisation’s new president, while Mayo footballer Tom Parsons has been named as secretary.
Cusack returns to the players’ body having served on their national executive committee for 13 years.
He was chairman in 2015 before he stepped down to join the Clare coaching ticket.
Cusack cut his ties with the Banner at the end of the 2017 campaign and returned to hurl with Cloyne in Cork.
Last Friday, Cusack was voted in as president, replacing former Galway hurler David Collins, who served in the role for the past two years, having previously held the position of secretary between 2013 and ’15.
Parsons, who is based in Dublin and is currently recovering from a horrific knee injury sustained in Mayo’s clash with Galway last summer, replaces Dublin footballer Paul Flynn as secretary. The six-time All-Ireland winner recently began working as the GPA’s new CEO, having replaced Kildare’s Dermot Earley.
Both positions are for three-year terms, although each officer is re-elected before each year of their tenure as per the GPA’s constitution.
Meanwhile, the GPA are hoping this month’s Congress will grant them representation on the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC).
Motion 31 on the ‘clár’ asks that the GPA representative would have input into issues “that are related to inter-county hurling and football competitions only”.
Flynn insisted that the GPA are happy to be involved in the discussions around issues that only concern their membership.
“We can leave again if they want to discuss other issues. That’s the purpose of it,” Flynn explained at a briefing at the GPA’s headquarters in Santry in Dublin yesterday.
“From speaking to people within the GAA leadership team, broadly speaking it’s been received quite positively, and hopefully that will be the case at Congress.
‘’(Hopefully) we can get an opportunity to speak to people around us explaining why we want to be there, and it’s for no other reason other than to be part of the decision-making process.”
Flynn also confirmed that the GPA would begin negotiations with the GAA over the coming months as the current deal is set to expire later this year.
“We’ve a deal that runs now, it’s from 2016 to ’19,” Flynn explained.
“So at the end of this year now, probably later on in this year, we’ll start negotiating then for the future deal.
“For us, the demand is increasing. We’ve got a membership body that’s growing whether that be through past players or relationships that we’ve been developing over time with the WGPA, there’s many different things that we can address through the negotiations.”