Players to make ‘dignified protest’

THE possibility of a players strike during the All-Ireland hurling and football championships was firmly ruled out by the GPA yesterday, but this weekend’s National League fixtures will be delayed by 15 minutes as a form of “dignified protest”.

Such a course of action falls well short of the proposed boycott of League action, but evidently player fury is barely suppressed.

It was only the cooling words of the GPA executive in Portlaoise on Saturday night that persuaded rank and file not to down tools this weekend.

They have now forwarded a list of six demands to the GAA, which they want met if the threat of strike action is to be taken off the table.

Militancy among players, or certainly those attending GPA meetings and answering their questionnaires, is at an all-time high. When the GPA canvassed opinion on whether or not strike action should be taken this week, 682 responded in the affirmative.

Only 82 spoke against.

“It was very passionate [in Portlaoise] and a lot of players spoke in favour of the proposed boycott of this weekend’s National League fixtures,” GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell explained. “Players were very militant and I’ve never experienced that to such an extent during my involvement with the GPA.

“We were able to quell that and decided that a more pragmatic approach was called for. The ball now is firmly in the GAA’s court. Nicky Brennan has stated his intentions and we’ve decided to give him the benefit of that.”

Sources in Croke Park indicated prior to the GPA EGM in Portlaoise that any decision to strike would see the leagues cancelled and players suspended. If that was a tactic designed to cow the players into submission it merely redoubled determination.

Farrell believes that players will come under similar pressure from their own counties not to proceed with this week’s 15-minute delay. The GAA’s reaction to the planned protest will, he said, determine how relations between both sides develop over the coming months.

“I have no doubt that pressure has started already. The response to the proposed boycott last weekend amazed me. There couldn’t have been a more provocative response.

“That incensed players further and pointed them towards that course of action. We channelled those emotions another way, but unintelligent comments like that around such a situation help no-one. These bully boy threats don’t sit well with players.”

Nicky Brennan is due to meet with the GPA on May 2 and a GAA statement yesterday revealed that the president-elect will deal with a number of matters relating to player welfare in his address to Congress on April 22.

The GAA also confirmed that they would examine and consider the list of demands forwarded to them yesterday by the GPA “with a view to making recommendations to the Management Committee and Central Council”.

Sean Kelly has proven himself a man that can, at the very least, listen but a new presidency brings a new face with new ideas. “That’s been part of our problem all along,” said Farrell. “We’ve been at the whim of the president and the presidential term all along. We need a structured form of relationship to develop between the GAA and the GPA.”

Aside from the recognition issue, the GAA’s biggest bugbear is likely to be the GPA’s demand to be funded by the GAA through a percentage of income from appropriate revenue streams, even if that is the accepted norm for player bodies around the world. The fixture crisis, county board apathy towards hurling and the Croke Park ban on Club Energise are other issues, but player welfare remains the deal breaker.

Farrell said that the GPA will decide soon on an acceptable time frame for an answer from Croke Park. “If the GAA want to do something they will act immediately,” said GPA chairman DJ Carey.

“With the Tallaght stadium, the GAA are demanding a meeting with the minister at the moment but, four weeks ago, they couldn’t show up for a meeting that was arranged for months. They’re demanding when it’s in their own interest to do it, but when it’s about player issues they don’t.”

“The one thing I’m afraid of,” said Kieran McGeeney, “is people burying their head in the sand until the dam breaks and the game itself is ruined. We don’t want to see the GAA taken down.

“What we want to see is people sitting down and working things out in a civilised manner.”