Eimear Ryan: Is the GAA's amateur ideal sustainable any more? 

It’s a very fine trick the GAA has played on us all, by elevating amateurism to such a height that players tend to distance themselves from even the suggestion of money

Orla O'Dwyer of the Lions celebrates a goal during the round four AFLW match between the Brisbane Lions and the Geelong Cats. (Photo by Jono Searle/AFL Photos/Getty Images)

While reading an interview with Meath star attacker Emma Duggan in these pages recently, I was reminded of the contradictory truths that we, as GAA people, sometimes have to hold in our minds at the same time. Duggan was asked – as any brilliant ladies footballer is surely asked nowadays – whether she would be tempted to head over to Australia to play in the AFLW.

It’s a charged topic in Meath. Not only is one of their best and brightest, Vikki Wall, after signing up with North Melbourne, but their manager Eamonn Murray hasn’t minced his words when asked what he thinks of Aussie Rules, saying in April: "I don’t know why you’d want to play that sport because it’s dreadful stuff to watch. I can’t understand it. There’s no skill at all."