Waterford’s resounding ‘no’ to pay for county managers
By John Murphy and John Fogarty
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Waterford County Board delegates last night gave an emphatic thumbs down to the payment of county team managers.
The decision supporting fully the implementation of present GAA rules, and nothing other than the payment of normal travel and other expenses, will be conveyed to Croke Park today and will form the basis of Waterford’s official stance when the matter comes up for discussion at a meeting inheadquarters later in the month.
Opposition to the concept of payment to team managers was headed up by former Waterford chairman Paddy Joe Ryan, the county’s official representative on Central Council.
Ryan, who held the chair for almost a decade, during which time he was directly involved with three county senior hurling managers — the Cork duo of Gerald and Justin McCarthy and current Clare boss Davy Fitzgerald- said that none of the three had ever received payment outside of their normal expense.
"They always received only what they were legitimately entitled to, and it is to their credit also that they never sought to step outside of that,’’ said Ryan.
"Start paying the managers now and in time we will end up paying everyone. As it is we are spending too much money on our county teams, and in many instances we are not getting the deserved return from some of them’’.
Ryan warned that the introduction of payment for team managers will be the death knell of the GAA. "If these managers are not prepared to do the job on a voluntary basis and receive only the normal expenses then we should not be interested in taking them on,’’ he said.
Tim O’Byrne, secretary of the East Waterford Board, said in Waterford they have only a small club base and last year alone they were down thousands in their gate returns.
They are no longer getting what "they used to’’ from Croke Park by way of grants and it would be impossible for the association to survive in Waterford if they were to begin paying team managers.
"I am wholeheartedly in support of the views expressed by Paddy Joe Ryan," O’Byrne added.
Chairman Tom Cunningham said one of the major worries for Croke Park is that supporters clubs are paying expenses to team managers outside the direction of the county boards, while the board’s youth officer, Liam Cheasty, said that paying managers at this point would send out all of the wrong signals.
Michael Murphy of Passage East said they must never forget the association’s amateur status, and on this issue of paying managers it is not because they are opposed to that concept but it is one that is inherently against the principles of the GAA.
Meanwhile the Clare County Board believes the GAA has to look at rewarding managers without contravening the amateur rules of theassociation.
Clare delegates discussed GAA director general Páraic Duffy’s discussion paper on the subject last Thursday night where they supported the idea of the association acknowledging managers’ contributions without damaging the amateur ethos.
County secretary Pat Fitzgerald acknowledged it is a difficult issue.
"Nobody wants to see the game become professional," he said. "At the same time, there are people within the association who are working above and beyond the normal number of hours you would give on a voluntary basis.
"What we’re saying is that it needs to be looked at although there are no real answers.
"To suggest we’re an amateur association absolutely and totally would be incorrect. But we want to remain committed to the amateur ethos, at the same time not wanting to turn away those who make exceptional contributions to the team."
Fitzgerald sees the evaluation process for a solution to the problem of unregulated payments to inter-county managers taking a lot longer than what is being anticipated.
"Something like this will take a lot longer to evaluate and analyse to see if some formula will come out of it. I don’t think it’s as simple as what it’s being made out to be in some areas."
"We don’t want to cut off the lifeblood of the association at grassroots level.
"At the same time, we can’t ignore the contribution made to the GAA by certain sectors."
Kerry chairmen met to discuss Duffy’s paper last night before a county board meeting next Monday.
Cork and Limerick will debate it this evening with Cork expected to oppose the idea of paying managers.
"What we’ve done is sent the discussion paper out to the clubs and asked them to come back to us when we will formulate our response," said chairman Bob Ryan. "I don’t see any major change from our stance now."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, February 14, 2012
