Player burn-out focus of ‘very hard-hitting’ GPA report
Responding to criticism levelled by Colm O’Rourke on the subject, the GPA official said: “We’ve a very hard-hitting report due out in the next couple of weeks having conducted workshops with students and focus groups among young players, it’s all been part of the minor review group.
“Dessie (Farrell, GPA CEO) has been very vocal about this and the need for reform in this area. We’ve done a lot of work with this cohort of players and made our submissions, so it’s not true to say that somehow we’re not interested in this area — this is where burnout is at its most insidious.
“Saying we have no interest in the area is simply untrue.”
Potts (pictured) said that the report should be published in the second week of November. He added that the GPA has also offered proposals on changing fixture structures within the GAA.
“As an organisation we’ve made submissions on competition structures to the GAA,” said Potts.
“We’ve put our views on the fixture structure forward to try to improve things for club players, but you have to bear in mind that you’re talking about the lads who were playing county senior finals last Sunday and maybe lads who have a couple of pints on a Saturday evening before they play a junior B game on Sunday morning. There’s a difference there too.
“Saying ‘support the club players’ is nebulous. There are a hundred thousand club players at all levels. The rationale of the GPA is that we’re concerned with support for the player in his off-field life and his personal development, to make sure the commitment to the game isn’t at the expense of their own personal lives.
“That’s not the same as getting a hand-out, it’s a lot more profound than that. You’re talking about changing someone’s life.”
