Players’ body silent on ‘six subs’ shambles

THIS is time of general upheaval in the GAA, when skill levels are dropping and crowds are dispersing elsewhere; when the rules are in a state of perilous ambiguity and club players are treated with contempt by having their championship fixtures shunted about the place in favour of accommodating a small percentage of inter-county players.

And the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA)? Why, they are busying themselves securing money for their members. The GPA have assured the wider GAA public that they have other concerns apart from securing player grants, yet in the current debacle engulfing Kildare and Offaly over the celebrated ‘six subs’ case, the silence from this body has been deafening.

Both Kildare and Offaly, and now Wexford, have had their season completely disrupted by the GAA’s inability to decide what their own rules mean.

As all parties concerned struggle to reach an outcome, the GPA might be expected to voice the concerns of its members on this issue — yet on the eve of the official ruling on the matter they are reportedly “upbeat” after “a productive meeting” with the Progressive Democrats on their campaign for players’ grant aid.

Meanwhile, the club players in Kildare are left in the wilderness as their championship fixtures are put on the back burner while this matter is resolved.

There has been no senior football championship game in Kildare since April 23; the senior, intermediate and junior hurling championships have yet to start, and while the county hurlers continue to prosper in the Christy Ring Cup, it would be optimistic in the extreme to expect there will be much activity for club players for the rest of June and all of July, by which stage summer will have come and gone.

“We have a right to be heard. It’s about time that players were given that official recognition,” said Armagh’s Kieran McGeaney after the GPA released its list of six demands following their extraordinary general meeting last April.

It’s about time players had a right to hear the GPA.

Brendan Coffey

3 College Green

Maynooth

Co Kildare