Croker confident of GPA go-ahead

By Brendan O’Brien and Brendan Larkin

Thursday, November 26, 2009

GAA chiefs last night insisted that the feedback from the grassroots to the proposed official recognition of the GPA has been "pretty positive".

The comments come as Cork officials scheduled a special meeting to discuss the interim agreement between the GAA and the players’ body though a number of counties including Kerry, Tipperary and Wexford have backed the development without such a meeting. A number of delegates voiced strong opposition to the proposed merger at a scheduled meeting on Tuesday night on Leeside.

Counties have been asked to decide whether they agree with the deal in principle or not before December 5 when it is proposed that Central Council will put forward a motion on the issue for next April’s Congress.

Cork County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan last night reiterated their stance. "At Tuesday night’s county board meeting, the decision was to refer the matter back to the clubs for their view.

"The decision of that meeting was to reconvene on Thursday, December 3 next when delegates will vote as they were instructed by their clubs on whether Cork will support the agreement or not. The outcome of that meeting will then be conveyed to our Central Council delegate, Bob Honohan, who will vote in accordance with the board’s wishes."

However Kilkenny hurling legend and former GPA President DJ Carey has questioned why Cork delegates haven’t given their backing to the interim agreement between the GAA and GPA at this week’s meeting.

Carey, a current GPA trustee, has noted the opposition on Leeside to the new deal but believes that Cork must be transparent and bring their gripes out in the open.

He said: "Most clubs within Cork and most clubs in the country as a whole are represented by an intercounty player, either past, current or future. We want to get the best out of the players and ensure that there is no divide between officialdom and the player. We have to get rid of that.

"The players have come out and said that it’s not a pay for play issue so why would anyone have an opposition to players having a voice? "Everybody has a voice from the smallest club to the largest club in the country."

Carey added: "I would say people need to think about why they are objecting to their own players having a voice. In some ways it may be a genuine fear that players are looking to be paid. Eventually, that may happen and might not be stopped but it’s not something that I would want to see. The amateur ethos is there forever as far as I’m concerned. Players may have different agendas but they should be met head on and the best place to do that is around the table."

He added: "Some people don’t want to see any change. I don’t want to sound like everybody is in the same boat but the same people that objected to Croke Park being opened to rugby and soccer will object to players having a voice and will object to everything."

Kerry chairman Jerome Conway said he supported the proposed merger describing it as "right and proper".

He explained: "It is very important for the GPA and the GAA and its players to work together.We are all part of the one family, whether you are talking about administrators or players or trainers. It is only right and proper that we should be working together for the benefit of the association. It looked for a while that pay for play was coming into consideration but maybe that now has been emphatically dealt with by the players. All they want is to work with the association and to make sure that there is proper player welfare."

The majority of counties, including the likes of Dublin and Kilkenny, have yet to discuss the matter. Dublin have brought their county board meeting forward by a week to November 30 in recognition of the issue’s importance and clubs in the county have already been forwarded the relevant documentation. So far, the only outright opposition to the proposed deal has come from the ‘Of One Belief’ organisation which was originally established to oppose the payment of government grants to inter-county players.

Both the GAA and GPA are confident the go-ahead will be given by sufficient numbers for Central Council’s motion to proceed although operations manager Fergal McGill was eager to point out debate was to be welcomed.

"The feedback we have been getting is pretty positive," said McGill. "People have concerns and counties are calling for clarification and assurances which, in fact, the GPA has already given us.

"The more people who read the document the better as far as we are concerned. The full debate about this won’t really be until Congress next April but we would hate people to give us the go-ahead because the president has asked them or to reject it because the GPA are involved. We want clubs to make up their own minds."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, November 26, 2009