GAA player protests - Opportunity for winners all around

YESTERDAY, GAA games throughout the country were disrupted by dignified protests of players who delayed proceedings for 15 minutes in what was really a demonstration of player power.

The players are not looking for direct money payments, but for perks such as scholarships and other benefits.

Players put enormous efforts into the modern game and they deserve recompense, but there must be no question of the taxpayer footing this bill. That would be a perversion of the concept of charity, because the GAA is a wealthy organisation that can well afford to recompense its own deserving members.

The GAA has the means of generating enormous amounts of money. If it wished it could, no doubt, make a fortune for itself by renting Croke Park for the likes of the upcoming Heineken Cup match between Munster and Leinster.

This is not to suggest that it owes anything to the game of rugby. It does not, but it could generate enormous amounts of money by making its facilities available to others when those facilities are not being used for Gaelic games.

The organisation had no problem in renting out those facilities for music concerts, even though those have sometimes damaged playing surfaces in stadiums around the country. By helping itself, it could help the players who have done so much for the GAA. Then, there would be winners all round.