Irish Examiner view: GAA must not lose its soul in modernisation

The GAA has never been just a sporting body; it is a social institution

If the GAA gets this right, 2036 could see a healthier, fairer, and more honest organisation. If it gets it wrong, the cost will be paid not in balance sheets, but in trust. File picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The GAA has always insisted that it is different. Different from professional sport, different from commercialised entertainment, different even from its own image abroad. Amateurism was not merely a rule but a moral anchor: The idea that players represented place and people, not pay packets.

But with the announcement of a proposed “high-performance licence” for inter-county teams, the association is tacitly acknowledging that the old model has reached breaking point. This moment did not arrive suddenly. It has been building for years, driven by spiralling costs, an arms race in sports science and backroom staffing, and an inter-county calendar that increasingly resembles a professional operation in all but name.