PLAYERS’ BODY IGNORING THE PLIGHT OF CLUB MEMBERS
THERE’S no doubt the plight of players has improved drastically since the establishment of the Gaelic Players Association. The body has brought a fairness to players in terms of expenses and the way they are treated, across the board. Players now get good mileage, plenty of gear, and are generally well looked after – and that’s only right.
It’s what the GPA does after that – the volume of money and where it goes – where I have reservations.
There’s scholarship schemes and player welfare programmes and all sorts of things tied up in the last agreement with the GAA that came to €18 million over a three-year period.
I feel slightly uncomfortable with that sort of money being given over to a small number of players when we still haven’t sorted out serious issues for all the association’s club players. There is another 98 per cent that need to be catered for far better.
There are broad figures out there but we’re still not getting an exact breakdown of individual salaries on the GPA executive which I think ordinary members have a right to know – especially given the huge amount of funding involved. The county scene is like a professional business at this stage.
Why the need to mirror the model of professional sport for a group of players that are meant to be amateur?
There are far more pressing issues that need to be addressed. It’s clear that lip service is being paid to player burnout when you look at the fixtures calendar and the overlap between club, colleges and county competitions.
Members of the GPA are club players too and are also colleges players, yet everything seems driven around the inter-county scene.
Not ruling out looking for 15 per cent of the GAA’s gate receipts sounds like a bit of political sparring ahead of the next agreement. Right now, I think there is too cosy a relationship with the GAA who need a proper vision of what they want the association to be – for all its members.