Football

Penny rich pound foolish GAA need to give the players the resources they need

A packed house at the Athletic Grounds enjoyed Armagh's clash with Kerry last Sunday. Picture By Hugh Russell.
A packed house at the Athletic Grounds enjoyed Armagh's clash with Kerry last Sunday. Picture By Hugh Russell. A packed house at the Athletic Grounds enjoyed Armagh's clash with Kerry last Sunday. Picture By Hugh Russell.

ARE we really on the brink of a civil war in the GAA?

Nobody wants that: Not the GAA, not the counties, not the players, not the media and, most of all, not the supporters. But, like it or not, that’s where we are.

And why? Over 65 cent a mile?

I’m a GAA member, a club officer, a coach, a supporter and of course like so many thousands of volunteers I don’t want a halfpenny for what little I do. I want to do it, I enjoy doing it and, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t.

We take pride in the GAA. Pride in club, pride in county, pride in cutting the grass at the pitch, or cleaning out the changingrooms, or selling lotto tickets, or whatever the case may be.

For many years county players played for pride. They bought their own boots, their training kit, their dinner after training, they paid for their own diesel… Thousands flocked to see them play and the honour of performing in front of them and being a household name and local hero was their reward.

The GAA is about so much more than the inter-county game. Club is and always will be number one and without the clubs you don’t have the counties. Without the work that coaches at U7 level did this week, the county stars of 15-20 years’ time will never come through.

But isn’t that the case in every sport, amateur or professional? Every sporting star started out as a kid at grassroots level.

Last Sunday Armagh played Kerry at The Athletic Grounds and the place was packed out. Thousands of children were admitted free and well done to the GAA for making that happen because League games are one of the best family days out around.

Throughout last Sunday’s game, the kids roared on the teams and marvelled at the skills on show. Kerry came out on top and David Clifford was their match-winner. Afterwards he was surrounded by a sea of smiling youngsters in orange and white and he showed amazing patience and kindness in taking selfies and chatting to as many of them as he could manage.

I’ve seen patient players at every match I’ve been to this season do the same from Tyrone to Cavan and Monaghan to Armagh. Before Clifford’s marathon last Sunday, Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue held the unofficial record for posing for post-match selfies with fans: ‘Right one more, ok one more, right no problem, ah no problem, right one more, yeah of course, I will surely, right last one, ok one more…’

Clifford was only on the field for the second half and throughout the first half he was warming up in front of us. It must be said that he caused a bit of a stir among some in the stand.

“I don’t think the missus saw a point in the first half,” said a friend of mine with a shake of his head.

Like the rest of the Kerry team, Clifford is an impressive physical specimen who is obviously spending hour upon hour getting himself into terrific shape to go out and do what he does.

And what does he do? He terrorises defenders, he thrills crowds, he packs out stadiums up and down the country and GAA stars like him take the place of Messi or Ronaldo as screensavers on the iPads and phones of a million teenagers.

The GAA has decided that they’ll cover four sessions/matches a week for the likes of Clifford to train. If he wants to do a fifth, are we really expecting him to go cap in hand to the Kerry county board for his diesel money, or pay for it out of his own pocket?

And if Kerry decide they will pay mileage expenses for him and his team-mates to do an extra session and the Dubs, Tyrone, Mayo, Galway and whoever else do likewise, then what about the fellas in the counties who don’t have the financial clout, or the willingness, to do the same?

Sorry lads, four is all you’re getting…

Come on, the gap between the haves and the have-nots will only get wider.

My heart would love to see a return to the old days when teams trained twice-a-week for the League and three times for the Championship and had a few pints and a bit of craic and walked to the ground with the fans and did their best on a Sunday. But my head tells me that those days are gone and they are not coming back.

We’re at a stage now where the present is at war with the past and the GAA has to take responsibility for a horse that has bolted.

For years the Association has been on a commercial and corporate journey that has extended and exploited revenue streams. TV rights deals, sponsorship deals, advertising deals… The money has flowed into the pot and even last year, despite Covid and everything else, millions were made.

So for a well-paid suit to go to the very people who are making it all work and say: “Sorry lads, you pack out our grounds and we market you worldwide as elite athletes but yous are only amateurs and all this training you’re doing is costing us a fortune. Now run, sorry actually just walk, on there and let us do our accounts in peace.”

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Last week, I was concerned that the GPA were selfishly backing themselves into a corner but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I see that they are making a stand on principle.

The mould was broken when the decision to pay players’ expenses was first taken and this latest outbreak is not about four sessions a week, it’s not about 65 cent a mile, it’s about the GAA recognising the efforts of their players, acknowledging their drawing power and backing that with the money that they obviously have.

The bar has been raised, it can’t be lowered again and nobody is going to get rich on a few quid of diesel money. The failure to compensate these players for their efforts could cost far more in the long run. Back them with the resources they need and let’s move on.