Players and Payment

[Certainly Gerry]

Having watched the Late Late Show interviews with the various unemployed stars of the GAA recently I am now fully convinced that our organisation is failing to look after the top players in the game. Every years millions of people attend inter-county GAA matches. Everyone from the programme sellers to the lad in the chip van is making money off the players. Millions is generated as a result of the the players that take to the pitch so well prepared by their respective management teams. There are numerous people employed up in Croke Park getting nice salaries and pensions and no-one is even quite sure what some of them are doing. Everyone is making money off this except the most important people of all - the players. I was very disappointed that night on the Late Late that one of the lads didn't speak out and say "D'ya know what Ryan, we are pissed off at this stage entertaining 80,000 people every year and getting nothing for it whilst everyone else is milking it". Them lads are too honest and humble to even suggest they should be getting a few quid but I know well they believe its wrong that they are the only ones being left out of the gravy train.

My proposal is simple. Every inter-county match that is played 25% of the gate receipts goes to the panel of both teams to be split up evenly. Each team manager will have a duty to announce his official panel of 30 for the O'Byrne Cup (for example), the National League and the Championship. They're the lads who will get the money. I don't care if they only get 30 quid from an irrelevant O'Byrne Cup match they still deserve it. And this rubbish about the Kilkenny hurlers getting more than the Leitrim hurlers doesn't hold with me. Accrington Stanley players aren't on the same wages as Man Utd players. You get paid for every game you play and according to the attendance there.

The powers that be should be grateful for their 75% ratio. They'd get nothing at all only for the skill and dedication of these lads.


P.S. Manager payments clearly need to be cleaned up too but I just wanted to generate a bit of discussion and debate on the whole player payment issue first.

[tipptopper25]

Don't know about pay for play, but you make some good points. Everyone is making money except the players. I think county boards could do more to assist unemployed players. Any Unemployed inter county hurler/footballer should be appointed as development officers with their county. This would not only keep players employed but it would be good for the future of the game. Having these lads coaching on a daily basis in schools and clubs would really benefit the Gaa. More young people wanting to play Gaa = less young people wanting to play soccer!!!!

[john locke]

Accrington Stanley..... Who are they!!!!

[High School Musical]

Exactly!

[Lone Shark]

The spirit of a democratic organisation is all about the freedom to disagree and promote various viewpoints, and God but I could not disagree more with the opening post. We cannot cross the line of paying players, and when we do the whole thing will disintegrate so fast we'll be spinning in our seats, wondering what the hell happened.

Just to flesh out the 25% idea here.

(1) So that means that if I'm a good hurler in Offaly, say Shane Dooley for example, realistically I can expect to pull in maybe five or six grand for the year. If I go and sign for Kilkenny or Tipp, where I'm almost guaranteed a place in the All Ireland final, with a total gate of over €1.4m to be split between the players, I'll do a hell of a lot better. I look to transfer for Thurles Sars/James Stephens. The GAA blocks the transfer, Shane takes a case against the EU for restraint of trade, and wins the quickest court case in Eu history. It wouldn't even get that far, the GAA would be laughed out of it trying to block a guy earning money like that.

Now I'm not saying Shane would do that, he may not, I have no idea of his personal circumstances and I have never met the man other than post match interviews, but he could do this and even if Shane wouldn't do it, somebody else would.

(2) It's the last minute of the All Ireland final. The score is level, and I'm taking a free to win the game. If I put it wide, I'm maybe €20k better off. Do we really want to put players in that situation?

(3) That money currently gets spent within the GAA, and the accounts are freely available to view. I would challenge anyone who feels that players should get a "share" to look through the accounts and say specifically which sectors of the budget they would cut. In fact I would argue that well over 25% of gate receipts gets spent on players any way. We all talked about the 70k that was spent on intercounty teams in January here on this board. Do we really think that Offaly took that money in that month?

(4) You may say that there are people drawing in big salaries for little or now work, but the GAA accounts say otherwise. Personally I think that the few people who do draw salaries out of the GAA work pretty hard for their money and earn their money. I agree completely that the idea of managers being paid is wrong and I'd be all in favour of flushing them out and reporting every cent they were ever given to the revenue commissioners, but becuase we have one cancer within the association is no reason to inject more toxic substances into the bloodstream. In fact the only people being overpaid that I can see are the GPA representatives.

(5) If players come to depend on playing for their county team for income, do we really think that they're still going to risk playing for their clubs? If I know that playing for Kilkenny hurlers is going to be worth 50k this year, why would I go and line out for O'Loughlin Gaels or Tullaroan? Particularly when I could end up marking a guy who knows that if I miss the year through injury, he might get my place?



Above all this, professional rugby in Ireland can barely sustain four teams. If we go down the road of professional GAA, how many teams do we think we can realistic have? Four hurling, eight football maybe? And then, do we really think Offaly will survive in that environment? Would we even want it to?


Sorry to be so aggressive, but I hate the notion of theories like this gaining traction. It'll do no-one any favours, best to cut it off at source.

[sean1976]

how much is joe dooley getting in "expenses"???

[Lone Shark]

Unless he's travelling to training by private jet, a lot less than he is actually incurring.

[Fargo Boyle]

I have recieved monies not to play