Club players deserve a voice
THIS coming Thursday is the one day of the year when the total focus is on the club player. This doesn’t even happen when the intermediate and junior clubs get to play in Croke Park. I went to watch Hollymount in the All-Ireland intermediate final last month and it was played on the same day that Dublin visited McHale Park in the League.
There’s a lot of talk about the problems of the club scene but there seems little appetite to do anything. This was demonstrated at Congress when delegates were asked to vote on a simple thing, like moving the All-Ireland finals by two weeks, to free up the club calendar and the motion failed.
The GPA have claimed they don’t represent the club player. This is an absurd situation. The GAA are in negotiations with the GPA about their official recognition and the funding they get from Croke Park — and the GAA should make it a condition that the GPA represents the interests of the club player.
When the GPA was formed in 1999, I was Galway manager and I supported the aims of the group. At the time, the inter-county player wasn’t treated very well. There were problems in many counties with getting expenses, gear and all of that. All those welfare issues were a concern. But they aren’t anymore. Those being mistreated in the GAA nowadays are the club players.
Last year, when the Ladies GPA came to be founded, we heard stories, through surveys, that only seven per cent of Ladies Gaelic footballers were getting expenses and 63 per cent didn’t get their medical expenses. They have founded their own organisation and those issues are being sorted.
But there is nobody speaking for the club player. They aren’t asking for much, just certainty in the calendar so they can plan their year accordingly. When the four teams take to the field on Croke Park on Thursday, the club will be centre-stage. If we are truly serious about the plight of the club player, and want to afford them the respect they deserve, the GPA must play its part.