Time for the GAA to lead the players' agenda

[Lone Shark]

There’s been an interesting symmetry about the last four All Ireland football Championships. In 2003 Tyrone won their first ever All Ireland title, but they took eight games to do so, scoring a meagre three goals in those eight games and playing some of the most cynical and unattractive football ever seen. Fast forward two years and more or less the same panel sat proudly on top of the tree after knocking off Kerry in the final in one of the best displays ever seen in Croke Park, having vanquished their fierce rivals Armagh in a wonderful semi on the way.

Ditto the Kingdom – in 2004 they capitalised as other counties took out all their main rivals. Limerick knocked Cork out of the Munster Championship for them, while the big bad Ulster boys were taken out at the quarter final stage. Finally Mayo lay down before them in the final, giving them the title of champions, albeit while not many people would have called them the best team in Ireland. Again, move on two years – the Ulster bogey was slain as Armagh were crushed in a glorious quarter final display and from then on they were imperious.

The reason for contrasting these years is simple – the supporters of both teams saw what it was like to win All Irelands good and bad. Now here’s the nub – did they care? Did they heck. Sports change over time, they get faster, more powerful, and in many cases they lose other things along the way. We can’t be afraid of evolution. However supporters don’t care about that – they just want their side to get to the final whistle with at least one more point than their opponents, anything else is just garnish.

And so, 250 words later – we get to the point. The recent letter from the Tyrone County Board exhorting Central Council to stand up to the GPA, and the subsequent comments from Sean Cavanagh, Dessie Farrell and Joe Brolly among others have truly ignited the GPA versus GAA debate. One of the key points of the GPA crusade is that the modern county player puts in an unprecedented amount of effort and commitment, and that drive for excellence is what keeps the turnstiles clicking. The pretence that they don’t want “Pay for Play” is maintained, however seeing as the demands have ranged from tax concessions for players to fixed sports grants for players, I think we can all accept that looking for money in exchange for playing Gaelic Games at intercounty level is one of their main aims.

This is why the time has come for the GAA to stop fire fighting and start making pro-active moves to ensure that these demands can never be legitimate. It is noticeable that when the GPA claims that their players are subjected to huge demands on their time, they never look for those demands to be reduced – as a result this is the path the GAA must follow. Obviously a reduction in training and match commitments is likely to lead to a slight drop in standards, and in the GPA world, where people flock through the turnstiles to see top class athletes do their thing, that can’t happen. Well here’s the thing – it can happen, and it has to happen. As we pointed out above with Kerry and Tyrone, supporters don’t care how you win, as long as you do – and they will follow their team as they always have, sparsely in the winter, robustly in the summer and in huge numbers should the team make it to the autumn. The GPA will never concede this, but the players wearing the jersey will never draw a crowd to a game – the concept of the home county being represented will, even if the players available are unlikely to challenge for honours.

If modern players are forced to cut back on their training commitments, thus giving them some of their life back, the understanding that financial recompense is not on the agenda nor will it ever be will be much more legitimate. Ireland can barely sustain 4 professional rugby teams at the height of rugby obsession – there is no way that once we start paying players we will still be able to carry 33 counties with two panels each, assuming Kilkenny will resume playing football when there is money on the table to do so. And this is before the inevitable claims from Ladies teams for comparable pay are made, claims that will stand up in any equality case before a court of law, whatever your view on the issue. The first payment to any player, whether it be a tax break or a “grant” will be followed within two decades by the winding up of several county teams. The GAA is a great organisation, but it is not exempt from freedom of labour law where no GAA rules can stop players moving to where the rewards are better – and in that environment, the Offalys of this world cannot survive against Dublin, Cork and Kerry.

In order to copper fasten the amateur ethos, the zookeeper must also be called in to usher out the elephant in the room that we dare not mention – paid managers. Your writer, not having any wish to bring a lawsuit on his head, is not going to name names, but managers receiving up to €100,000 per annum while players go unpaid is not uncommon, and is a gross perversion of what we stand for. Investigations must be carried out, and if that requires the GAA carrying out sting operations to out these managers (and some players) who are willing to join any squad if the price is right, then that is what must be done. These people are a blight on the association and seeing them hung out to dry with a public suspension, irrespective of their career to date would serve as a warning that this conduct is not acceptable. In some cases the money comes, not from the county board, but directly from a sponsor. This too must me explicitly barred and policed vigorously.

Once managers trying to justify huge fees are out of the picture, it becomes a lot easier to enforce limited training schedules. The GAA’s idea to ban challenge matches in November and December is a good one, and a shorter intercounty season and longer off-season would both reduce the demands on players and be welcomed by clubs. Indeed if the under 21 inter county championship must be set aside for this to happen, then so be it. (Personally this writer feels it should be run concurrently with the senior in the summer and restricted to players not on senior panels, but that’s another debate) Additionally, if all team and mileage expenses were dealt with from a central source, suddenly it would reduce the temptation on the county board to accede to the wishes of the manager who wants four or more sessions a week – they could merely state that he’s welcome to, but that no claims for mileage from himself or any of his “trainers” would be accepted. A gut feeling tells me that these requests would cease very quickly in this environment.

There are many reasons why your writer dislikes the GPA, their claim to represent “the Players” when 99% of players in the association – i.e. club players – are not allowed join being top of the list, but their aims are, in the main, laudable. Proper medical cover, reasonable mileage rates and provision for meals after training are all examples of causes that people can get behind and support with unanimity. If it took a players association to pursue this aggressively, then that association is doing some good work. However one of their goals is to take steps down a road that will lead to our county teams being merged, rampant intercounty transferring and sponsors paying wages while demanding a Champions League like structure over a longer period of time to increase exposure in return. This is not somewhere we want to go and if the GPA is too short sighted to see this, then the GAA must read the tea leaves and do what it takes to take the association down another road – a road where players play because they want to, where an injury costs them time in hospital but no more, and a road where the junior B club player is subject to the same rights, responsibilities and entitlements as the multiple All Star winner. Indeed, if the GPA forces the GAA to step back and take these actions, they’ll have done the organisation more good than they ever could have thought possible themselves.

[The Biff]

Good man LS. I'd hate you to think that nobody is reading your proclamations; in my own case I've a lot less time to surf now afterchanging jobs late last year.

Anyway, you're spot on. When the GPA started up, I supported the concept firmly on other Discussion Boards etc. But as time has moved on, so has the august Players body moved their apparent agenda.

In no shape or form should "Pay for Play" be countenanced in the GAA. I believe this not on idealogical grounds nor for fear about how it would make "the man who lines the pitch" feel. No, I believe this because I dont think our little country could support it properly in a similar way that the likes of Shelbourne FC cant make the soccer numbers add up.

If the money-trail was to lead to less counties competing at the top level, or even more players transferring than are trying it at present (admittedly many for completely legit reasons), then our games will have suffered a serious loss of stature. I am not expecting the likes of Offaly to be challenging for titles every year with the same frequency as the big counties. Occasional spirited challenges can satisfy me, in the knowledge that 15 men in the tricolour jersey have the same chance to prepare to do their best.

Let the players not be out of pocket for the work they put in to entertain us. But no more than that. Let the managers rejoin the fold and not value their own performance so much above their team. Tear up that veil of hypocrisy which they hide behind. We ar enot looking for Gaelic Games to be able to compete on any world stage. They are our sports. We can decide what they represent. We do not need to follow the lead of any other sports, but we should certainly learn from the mistakes that other sports have made.

[The Border Fox]

LS and The Biff, I too disagree with pay for play and all that would follow but I 100% believe that every county player that genuinely gives the effort,commitment, passion and sacrifices required to survive at that level deserves to be looked after in some form much greater than just reducing there time involved. This will not happen and our national sports have evolved into high levels of fitness which will not deminish in the near future. Your comments paint a clear picture for me of people who never represented their county at the highest level for a reasonable period of time and therefore do not understand fully what exactly is involved,sorry.

[Muck Savage]

To me a lot of the blame can be put on the managers. A lot of them are getting a lot of money and need to produce results, this puts pressure on them which flows down to the players. If a manager is getting say 50 grand for the year he is going to need to show something for the year. That means having them pump weights for three months, Oct-Dec, running the players like a race horse for 4 winter months as well as league games and then fine tuning them for a couple of months. The managers can treat it like a full time job but forget that the lads that they run the crap out of have to get up the next morning and do a days work. A lot of the Inter county managers are, and in some cases need to be, ego full langers that want their names up everywhere so that next year they can charge more. At the end of the day it's the players that suffer.

You can see this in a number of counties, I thought it was very clear in Westmeath last year. Right, they got a lucky draw and went a good distance, but a lot of the better players pulled out early in the year saying they were tired of it. It works fine for bigger counties who can have about 10 new lads on a pannel each year, hungry to get somewhere, but for a small county it's not possible. Hence you'll see a small county on the scene for a year of two then go off the boil due to player burnout.

Looking around the world and the only so called non pay sports players that play in front of similar large crowds as GAA players is College Football in the US. They have strict rules on how many hours training the manager can have witht he team, certian number of games etc. Something like this is needed in GAA, set up a structure that will protect burnout in players. If you look at most county teams a player is over the hill at 27. At the age of 21 a lad is probably playing on 5-6 teams from club to college to county, that's nuts. I believe that the U21 competition is one of the best as you have lads that are fully or close to fully mature and they don't in most cases resort to pulling, dragging etc. It's the best football in my mind. Minor, there can be a big difference between a 17 year old and 15 year old, Senior is gone too pro.

A structure needs to be put in place to protect the players, this may mean players are not available for certian teams but so be it. Limiting the number of hours they can train each week with the team(some will train by themselves but that's up to them), limiting them to one game per week and blackouts for certian times in the year. Giving club players a two month schedule of games so they can plan their lives, not waiting until Tuesday to know if they have a C'ship game at the weekend, Most players have wives, girlfriends or drinking buddies that need attention also.

[ballymanabroad]

Good man Muck Savage you have hit the nail on the head.

I detest red tape and officiating but I think in this case a regulator would be a very good idea to avoid player burn out.

[Lone Shark]

LS and The Biff, I too disagree with pay for play and all that would follow but I 100% believe that every county player that genuinely gives the effort,commitment, passion and sacrifices required to survive at that level deserves to be looked after in some form much greater than just reducing there time involved.

So if you don't mind me asking, how do you "look after" someone without paying them? You can cover costs, but once you start paying for time spent, whether it be in the form of tax breaks, compensation for work lost or whatever, you have conceded the principle and to my mind there's nowhere else between that point and counties being amalgamated that the train can be derailed. I guarantee you the legal community wouldn't have it any other way.

Your comments paint a clear picture for me of people who never represented their county at the highest level for a reasonable period of time and therefore do not understand fully what exactly is involved,sorry.

Unless you count community games chess, or pitch and putt, I've never represented my county at any level - so no need to apologise.

However the article is based on a premise that I think is reasonable - we can't keep asking for these huge levels of commitment (I mightn't have done it myself but I know enough players that have to know that it's a huge ask) and expect it to be done gratis. Our whole organisation will crumble if we pay, so we have to stop asking for the huge chunks of time in the first place. We also have to enforce it. As was mentioned elsewhere, if college football can do it, we can.

And I certainly stand by my assertion that cutting out paid managers will go a long way.

[Treasurer]

100% against pay for play, but one crucial area that needs addressing is insurance. Players get nothing for first three days, the loss of income is capped, hospital bills are capped etc. It is a very limited scheme and most sensible players end up paying separate personal insurance as well, which they shouldn't have to. As far as I know, some county boards cover the difference, but not all of them - I'm pretty sure we don't make up the shortfall on the first three days for example.