A change we can believe in
Ever since the GPA was founded 10 years ago, the question of official recognition was one of when rather than if. Nevertheless the move is welcome and can, if handled properly, be beneficial to both associations.
The GAA are glad to have the GPA inside the tent but Christy Cooney and Páraic Duffy were at pains to point out the players’ body will be “independent at the same time”. Many people will see this as a contradiction.
How can you be part of an organisation but independent from it at the same time?
Cooney said that the GPA would be independent like Cumann na mBunscoil and handball. Yet handball runs its own affairs and gets the funding from the GAA annually. In that regard the GPA have done very well. Getting €1.1million and €250,000 for administrative costs is a major coup for Dessie Farrell and company.
Without doubt this is a major victory for Farrell. Not only have they gained official recognition but they are also getting €1.35m and will have new offices in Croke Park.
Being officially recognised will mean an awful lot of extra clout when the GPA wants to deal with government, other sports bodies, GAA units, etc.
They will also now be entitled to official invitations to all major events and of course will be primarily responsible for player welfare for inter-county players.
What do the GAA gain? Well firstly this festering sore has been put to bed, it refused to go away so it had to be accommodated – now it has and Congress will give it official recognition next April.
Secondly the GAA were at pains to point out that the “amateur status” had been accepted by the GPA and that it will be enshrined in their constitution but as Donal Óg Cusack pointed out recently the GPA toyed initially with pay-for-play before eventually deciding against it. I can vouch for that. When I became president in 2003 I had a private meeting with Dessie Farrell in the Burlington Hotel. I discussed how we could move matters forward but told him that pay-for-play was a no-go area.
He assured me that it wasn’t on their agenda and that at the next GPA banquet in the City West he confirmed that.
The GPA have consistently maintained that view ever since. It was only people who didn’t believe Dessie or were suspicious of the GPA that kept harping on about the GPA and professionalism. It’s good that the amateur status will be enshrined in the GPA’s constitution but it’s only putting into writing what they have articulated since 2003.
AND of course, constitutions can change. A new group of player-leaders could try altering the goalposts in years to come but certainly not in the present economic climate.
The real test of the benefits of this latest development will not come from the independence of the GPA but from it’s ability to “work” within the association.
The GPA now has a challenge of influencing from within. Can it for instance wield real power in moving matters forward in areas like player welfare, competition structure, ethical issues, and the whole development of the association.
For instance the hiring and firing of managers at all levels of the association is a mess. The GPA now have a golden opportunity to work from within rather than independently to bring fairness, transparency and order to this chaos. The inter-county championships as presently run are lopsided and are becoming more and more unfair on weaker counties. The GPA can now have a huge say on this matter from within the association.
Questions of burn-out, employment, education, injuries etc. are all matters that require fresh thinking and now that the GPA are within the organisation they must use their power and influence wisely. This is where official recognition can matter most.
