GAA pay-for-play? - Yes, but not at expense of taxpayers

THIS has been another bumper weekend for the GAA. Whatever else about the introduction of the “backdoor” system for the All-Ireland hurling and football championships — and it has its critics — it has proved to be a huge generator of additional revenue for the association.

It is estimated that the GAA will earn a staggering €11 million in ticket sales from just three weekends of lucrative fixtures at Croke Park.

This sum is on top of the €8m the GAA is set to earn when Croker hosts a series of Six Nations rugby and international soccer fixtures in February and March next year.

And other big money weekends are still to come, with the final stages of both hurling and football yet to be reached.

One suspects that this frenetic level of activity at the turnstiles is viewed with a mixture of awe and envy by the bosses of the IRFU and the FAI.

However, it also poses questions and problems for the GAA itself, especially at a time when the idea of taxpayers’ money being used to fund GAA players is being promoted.

No matter how the latter is dressed up, and it is being pushed by the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA), it raises the question of whether this is professionalism by stealth.

Ultimately that’s a matter for the GAA itself, though given the current levels of revenue involved, few would be surprised if the GPA were not reappraising its priorities.

It has every right to go after pay-for-play, though not at the taxpayers’ expense.