Football

GAA should re-assert its amateur ethos says UU sports professor

A MEMBER of the GAA’s ‘Towards 150’ think-tank tasked with considering the Association’s future has urged the re-assertion of its amateur values.

Derry native David Hassan, who also has roles on other Association committees at national, provincial, and county levels, also called on county boards to ensure regular games for club players.

An academic who has worked with Uefa and FIA (motorsport’s world governing body), and has ‘Global Engagement’ as part of his job title, Hassan might be expected to have a certain radical outlook.

However, in a wide-ranging interview, he argues that the GAA does not have the capacity to cope with professionalism and feels that there must be limits placed on inter-county spending sooner rather than later, labelling current levels “not sustainable”.

As the GAA’s new Chair of its Standing Committee on Playing Rules, he has indicated that a simplified rulebook will be a major aim of his remit in that role.

Hassan is also a member of the ‘Towards 150’ think-tank which was set up by previous GAA President Aogán Ó Fearghail to consider what the Association will look like in 2034.

Although a recent leak of its imminent report indicated that ‘allowances’ should be considered for inter-county players, Hassan is a strong advocate of protecting the amateur ethos:

“The GAA should concern itself with the re-assertion of its core values. More than any other organisation it is predicated on core values, of which amateurism is one.”

He insists that “for a whole range of reasons, not least financially, we know the Association could not actually absorb a wholly professional game, we wouldn’t have the capacity to do it.”

Yet he notes that: “Generally speaking, we’re also seeing a movement to a form of sport that is really ‘sports entertainment’. In other words, people are watching matches primarily for the purpose of being entertained.

“Again, if you place that degree of expectation on what is currently an amateur game, that’s difficult to sustain as well.”

The 45-year-old is a specialist in sports management and governance, as Ulster University’s Associate Dean of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences (Global Engagement) and Professor of Sport Policy and Management.

One of two President's appointments to the Ulster Council GAA management committee, he is also Chair of the Ulster Council's Code of Ethics and Best Practice committee, and Chair of Derry GAA's Advisory Committee.

With his eyes on the GAA at all levels, he argues that it’s up to county boards to sort out the club scene, not the GAA centrally:

“My personal view is that, while I value the aspirations of the CPA, I’d be slightly concerned at the emergence of organisations within the GAA when the GAA itself should have the capacity to address many of these issues.

“I’d be sympathetic to the club game generally because primarily that is what I was about. I think there’s actually a very strong onus on county boards themselves to address the issues about club games.

“They do have the capacity to set a fixtures list that addresses many of the concerns that club players have.”

Although Hassan welcomes the Ulster Council’s ongoing efforts to reach out to the unionist community, he does not believe the Association needs to alter its overall approach:

“It certainly would be my view that the GAA is unequivocal about why it was formed and the reason it still exists to this day. With that in mind, it should be proud to promote a sense of Irishness, a sense of Irish national identity.”

* See ?? for full interview: