Kerry chief: GAA must act to stop exodus Down Under

Kerry chairman Tim Murphy has urged GAA bosses to step up their efforts in dealing with the ongoing recruitment of young players by the AFL.

Murphy says Croke Park must become “proactive”, not reactive, in attempting to prevent the further loss of talented young players to Australia.

Leaving each county board to fight its own corner, the Kerry chairman added, is no longer an acceptable or satisfactory approach.

It emerged on Tuesday that 2017 All-Ireland minor winning Kerry goalkeeper Deividas Uosis has signed a rookie contract with the Brisbane Lions, the Dingle clubman becoming the third All-Ireland minor winning Kerry footballer in recent years — after Mark O’Connor and Stefan Okunbor — to commit his future to the AFL.

In 2018, and partly in response to the growing AFL threat, the Kerry County Board established a strategic employment task force with the objective of identifying and increasing employment opportunities for club and county players.

The committee continues to work with various employers and IT Tralee to encourage players to “stay, play, and work in Kerry”.

An information booklet, under the same title, was also produced.

But while Murphy is “content” the Kerry County Board is doing as much as they it can to ensure the option of remaining at home is an attractive one for their players, he believes it is time for “joined-up thinking” at national level.

“I’d be in favour of a national discussion taking place on this matter, or for a specific committee in Croke Park to look at it so as to guarantee collective thinking from all 32 counties and the creation of all-island solutions,” he said.

“The emphasis and push would be on creating a viable and attractive alternative for the player to remain at home.” Murphy explained.

It is for others to judge, but we would like to think in Kerry that we are proactive and we have been proactive in as far as we can by doing what we are doing.

“A bigger buy-in nationally [is needed] in terms of managing the situation and providing solutions, rather than leaving every county board to their own devices.”

The Kerry official said his not in favour of clubs or counties being financially compensated for the loss of a talented young player to the AFL.

He also acknowledged that the GAA’s hands are, to an extent, tied when it comes to countering the AFL drain. If a player is determined to sample professional sport, then save for barricading the departure gate, they’ll not be persuaded otherwise.

“Deividas [Uosis] was going to give this a go, no matter what. And we have to respect that. I don’t think we can try to force anyone to stay at home. I don’t think it is possible for an amateur organisation to stop lads going elsewhere,” he said.

"What we can do, and are doing in Kerry, is to create and maintain as attractive an environment as possible here at home and convey to our players the benefits of remaining in Ireland, while also assisting them with educational opportunities, career advice, and enhanced employment prospects.

“In Kerry, we are constantly trying to forge relationships with colleges, third-level institutions, the likes of our strategic partnership with IT Tralee, with industry, and with employers.

Deividas Uosis.

"And if somebody is considering a move, we can offer them an alternative. It might not be as attractive an alternative in the short-term, but who knows in the longer-term?

“The lure of AFL professional sport continues to be a huge challenge for the GAA. As I have said numerous times in the past, a voluntary organisation such as the GAA simply cannot compete with professional sport.”

Kerry have suffered from this more than most. Murphy says the county’s five-in-a-row success at minor level (2014-18) has become a “double-edged sword”.

That our players have come to the attention of scouts is testament to the level of coaching that is being put in at club, school, and development squad level. We’d like to think that we have one of the best coaching structures in the country.

"That is a double-edged sword, because you are obviously producing elite players from that system and by default, they are at a level where the antenna of the AFL are up.

“We are producing elite players to the highest level, but in doing so, they are getting national exposure, particularly so because of the minor success of the last couple of years.

"The implication of that is that they are seen on the national stage and automatically attract the attention of the scouts from Australia. That is a double-edged sword we cannot do anything about. We can’t not keep doing what we are doing, in terms of coaching.”

The signing of Uosis will bring to 18 the number of Irish on the books of AFL clubs.