Those pushing the GAA into professionalism must be aware of the dangers
ONE OF the photographs doing the rounds after Australia’s victory over Ireland in the International Rules Series in Perth last weekend featured Dustin Fletcher and Jobe Watson holding the Cormac McAnallen Cup and looking the worse for wear.
The celebrations looked like they had clearly taken their toll on the Essendon duo, particularly the blearyeyed and unshaven Watson, as they posed back in Melbourne with the trophy.
If the AFL wanted to put a positive spin on the series, it was a touch ironic that they featured a shot of the two players implicated in the biggest doping scandal that has ever rocked Aussie Rules.
The decision to allow the pair compete for their country drew the only negative publicity to the hybrid game which otherwise ticked every box in Patersons Stadium. A near sell-out crowd and an absorbing, see-saw affair of a match featured some brilliant Australian kicking with the round ball and a brave Ireland fightback.
With amateurism in the association dominating the agenda back home, the Essendon doping affair offers a cautionary tale for those proposing the GAA embrace a form of professionalism.
Just like Kerry footballer Tadhg Kennelly, Pearce Hanley is one of the few true Irish success stories in the AFL. He was mentioned in the top 50 AFL players for 2014 by the Herald Sun and his star still seems to be on the rise.
For a player who has seen both sides of the amateur-professional divide in Gaelic games and Aussie Rules, he would be in favour of the players getting some form of pay-for-play back home. ‘It definitely justifies something,’ he said. ‘When it comes to professional sport and money it’s about the revenue you can build up and pay the players. Obviously, you’ve got stronger counties than others and how you would do it I’m not too sure but I’d like to see the players rewarded for the effort they put in.’
Hanley has seen how the other half lives as a professional sports player with his Brisbane Lions annual salary estimated to be close to half a million euro.
Professional sport though brings its own set of pressures and in the buildup to the one-Test series in Perth, the back pages of the Australian newspapers focused on Fletcher and Watson’s controversial inclusion in the home squad, given that they have been provisionally suspended for their part in the Bombers’ 2012 supplements program.
The pair are among 34 players who have been served with infraction notices as part of the joint AFL-ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority)] investigation into the club. While that suspension affects AFL games, they were given an exemption to play in the International Rules series.
With a hearing to come, just say the pair are found guilty? What does that do to sully Australia’s 10-point victory over Ireland? As a series veteran and the man to solve the problematic position of goalkeeper, Fletcher again proved his worth with Watson among seven club captains included in the winning squad.
Before the game Richard Ings, the former head of anti-doping authority ASADA, warned that Australia could be stripped of the trophy in such a scenario.
‘Under the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code, if two or more players from a team are found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation, then a sanction can be imposed against the team itself.
‘Which raises another scenario; if two or more players on the Australia team end up being found guilty of doping offences the match result could be null and void. The result could be awarded to the Irish team.’
Not that the GAA are likely to pursue such an avenue, not when a return series in Ireland has all but been agreed for 2015 with further talk of an American leg in New York or Boston down the line.
But for all the positive vibes emanating from the GAA and the AFL after the recent tour, professional sport usually comes with its own dark underbelly.
The logical conclusion of a sport turning professional is a win-at-all-costs mentality that can threaten the very fabric of the sport. The Lance Armstrong affair personified cycling’s doping culture as the sport struggles to regain any shred of credibility.
Rugby has had Bloodgate and Harlequins’ infamous attempt at cheating a way to a Heineken Cup. Baseball held up Mark McGwire as a modern hero, the only problem being that a better home run ratio than Babe Ruth was overshadowed by his public admission over steroid usage. Barry Bonds’ comparison to Ruth has also been undermined by his implication in the BALCO investigation into steroid use.
At the moment, soccer is embroiled in charges of corruption at the highest levels over FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. In horse racing, just this week controversial trainer Philip Fenton was banned for three years for possessing illegal steroids. Those pushing professionalism in the GAA, should be mindful of where the road ultimately leads. The GAA shouldn’t feel the need to belittle its amateur status, rather hold dearly to it.