Football

GAA resolves issues with player expenses system

Armagh's Aidan Nugent this week highlighted the issue around GAA players not having received expenses. Picture by Eoin Noonan / Sportsfile
Armagh's Aidan Nugent this week highlighted the issue around GAA players not having received expenses. Picture by Eoin Noonan / Sportsfile

ISSUES with the GAA’s centralised system for claiming player expenses, including those around making payments in sterling to counties in the north, have been resolved, The Irish News understands.

Players in some counties, however, face still having to continue to wait on their expenses to be processed due to their county board’s failure to register them properly on the system.

Despite a January deadline imposed on counties by Croke Park, it’s understood that only six counties had fully registered players in both codes prior to the issue coming to light thanks to a tweet from Armagh footballer Aidan Nugent on Monday afternoon.

He highlighted that players hadn’t been received “one penny of expenses” despite being back in training officially since November 24, which will be some twelve weeks ago on Thursday.

“Players (especially student athletes with no other income) are out a lot of money in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

“There’s not enough being said about it. Players generate massive amounts of money each year for the GAA, the least were owed is the expenses that we get promised, paid on time,” tweeted Nugent.

Players in the counties that had registered properly may already have received payment in recent days if they are in the south, with a number of claims having been processed by the GAA, who oversee the administration of the system.

Changes had to be made to the system in order to allow for sterling payments to counties in the north, and that has now happened.

Players are unable to submit a claim on the system until their county board has fully registered them. Once registration occurs, any claims then processed are likely to be paid out within two weeks, The Irish News understands.