John Fogarty: Male GAA players will have to sacrifice for integration
CEO of the Galic Players Association Tom Parsons. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
“Problem child” is a phrase the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have used to describe themselves as in recent times. Or, to be more precise, how they interpret the GAA sometimes see them.
The body’s former chief executive Paul Flynn in February 2020 used it the day after GAA director general Tom Ryan insisted the close to €30 million spend on inter-county teams was “not sustainable”.
Flynn wrote to fellow members: "Far from being a problem child, inter-county games, and the players that make them the spectacle that they are, continue to be the jewel in the crown of the GAA.
"Therefore, in the midst of the record-breaking revenues of €73.9m reported for 2019 (up 16%), which are primarily and overwhelmingly generated off the inter county games, it is disappointing to see that it is the so-called unsustainable costs of those inter-county games commanding such a share of the GAA’s attention."
Wednesday’s child is full of woe and in the middle of last week Flynn’s successor Tom Parsons was using the same phrase on . The GAA’s total central revenue for 2025 was €141.9m (up almost 48% in six years), the men’s inter-county spend stood at over €45m (up 35% in the same timeframe), and it was in the context of claims the total bill would double after integration that he made the comment.
“It’s been really frustrating to hear that the cost (is the issue) and to be honest the players are starting to feel like the problem child. That we’re inter-county players, we’re busting a gut playing in front of 80,000 people and we’re a cost rather than an investment.”
As part of an integration sub-committee that looked at the initial, baseline costs of the merger at inter-county level, Parsons came to the conclusion that each senior county panel would be entitled to spend a minimum of €300,000 per annum in a report revealed by the Irish Examiner last week.
The problem, and yes it is a problem, with the document is that it proposed the annual spend on 15 hurling county teams and one football county would also jump to €300,000 at a cost of €1.079m per annum. The football county teams’ budget would increase by just over €30,000, while each of the counties’ hurling set-ups would receive an average bump of over €70,000.
The report’s means of meeting the initial €11.449m includes raising ticket prices to incorporate a €5 or €10 levy and taking a slice of the GAA+ and GAA’s coaching and games and capital budgets. Ending the players’ weekly €20 nutrition allowance and freezing central funding for team holidays are bold moves if they are genuinely pursued.
However, more sacrifice will be required on the male side of the GPA house to make integration a reality. Giving over €1m more to men’s teams as part of an exercise aimed at raising standards for the elite female players counters the need to trim. Even if almost half of the counties’ hurling sides could do with the financial boost, they are not the priority here.
Equality for leading female players means equality. The estimated price of integration at inter-county level of €12m (an additional €10.37m for female teams) is a start. The gap between the projected €18.3m total for inter-county women and €45.6m spent on men’s sides last year will have to narrow. Parity is the end game and GAA president Jarlath Burns hasn’t lost sight of that.
Of the €7.93m estimated to be currently spent on ladies football and camogie inter-county teams per annum, the GAA already provides €1m (12.6%). At the outset of integration, the sub-committee’s projection is the GAA, from central and county sources, would provide roughly 50% of female inter-county costs.
As Parsons said on Wednesday, the GAA themselves must show more leadership. They have to demonstrate they are more willing to cut their coat according to their cloth. The inter-county certification programme could go some way to achieving that but there will be resistance from men’s set-ups.
Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney has already indicated that. Three years ago, Limerick’s John Kiely said he saw no reason why the men’s spending would be impacted by implementing basic standards for female inter-county players under integration.
“Why would you possibly say ‘we want to resource the boys and girls in the same way. That means now we’re going to have to resource the boys in a lesser way’. We’re already saying that this is the standard. Why would you drop your standards just so that you can broaden a lower standard? Everybody’s always trying to find more to do more.” It was former integration steering committee chairperson Mary McAleese’s belief the government would be prepared to contribute to make integration a reality but they aren’t fools. Until they see savings and efficiencies, no money will be forthcoming.
Something has got to give and it’s from the men. The GPA say they want to ensure that love is all around. If they really love integration, come on and let it show.
Gearóid Hegarty appeared to veer from the traditional standpoint of an All-Ireland champion about rule changes to leave well enough alone.
The All-Star cert was asked on Wednesday for his opinion on the experimental rules, which this newspaper broke news of earlier in the day. “I'd always be an advocate that you can't necessarily stand still,” he said.
Although, it didn’t exactly tally with what he said last month. “Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with hurling. I think hurling is in an unbelievable place.” He added: “Obviously, there's room for improvement. There's always room for improvement in every sport. But I'd hate for anything drastic to come in. I think it would be a bad call.”
What make the experimental rules tolerable for Hegarty was that they were “little”. What might his team-mate Darragh O’Donovan think after warning the GAA had to be “careful” about changes to the game? “Don't get carried away with ourselves in trying to make rules for the sake of making rules,” O’Donovan warned in July. “You don't want to go down the line of what rugby has done with that.”
Undoubtedly, as a long-standing campaigner, Limerick manager John Kiely will welcome the proposed return of the maor foirne but as for the specific playing ones? “The game is absolutely 100% fine,” he said back in February 2020. “There is nobody giving out about the game really apart from one or two who are going to be giving out anyways. So, I think the game is fine so leave it alone, please."
One of Limerick’s great traits has been their ability to move with the times. They truly embraced the water breaks as resets and opportunities for coach Paul Kinnerk to impart advice during the pandemic seasons. Change doesn’t always have to be anathema for champions.
Jack O’Connor obviously wants the best for his players so to see a beaming David and Paudie Clifford in Killarney on Sunday would have given him pleasure.
However, Fossa’s victory might mean he will not see them on a training field until the end of January. The win over KIlcummin will likely lead to the pair playing into the first week in December and missing pre-season. They face the Clare or Waterford intermediate winners in a semi-final on November 22, two days after collective pre-season commences.
Emulate All-Ireland intermediate champions An Ghaeltacht and they will have two further games in January by which time O’Connor will undoubtedly have ruled them out of the early stages of the National League as he did in 2023 when Fossa claimed the junior All-Ireland crown.
That’s not to mention East Kerry’s county championship at the end of the month, although they have a bye to the second preliminary round. The O’Donoghue Cup (East Kerry divisional competition) has been given a wide berth before but it might provide some healthy preparation for Fossa before the provincial championship.
In the 2022-23 season, David Clifford lined out in 34 competitive games. In 2026 thus far, he has played 21 times. That could jump to as much as 30 excluding the O’Donoghue Cup. Paudie’s load is currently five games less because of injury.
O’Connor already had burnout concerns. Now they have been amplified.
