O’Dwyer calls for player expenses

MEMBERS of All-Ireland final panels should receive significant sums in expenses to compensate them for loss of earnings, Laois manager Mick O’Dwyer said yesterday.

Five years ago O'Dwyer recommended that £10,000 (€12,600) "a man" should be paid to players to cover their expenses. However, he stressed that he was opposed to players being paid to play.

His views were echoed by the Dublin boss Paul Caffrey who said that while the GPA "had led the charge" for players, there was still scope for improvement.

O'Dwyer argued it was unfair that the people who provided all the entertainment on the day of big games "didn't receive a penny" whereas stewards and other people were paid.

"Players are out of pocket for the amount of work they put into the game. Nobody wants to be paid for playing, but they should certainly get proper expenses and they should be seen after. A lot of players have to 'break off' work at four or five a clock in the evening to get in training. These guys are losing money.

"You saw where the Wexford full-back went off to America to earn a few pounds. The day is coming when we will certainly have to see after them in a financial way. I wouldn't agree with paying players and I don't think players want to be paid. But they want to looked after properly.

"I mean 80,000 people in Croke Park next Sunday and not one penny going to any player who is playing there the people who are putting on the show. I think that's wrong.''

Caffrey agreed: "I would be strongly against 'pay-for-play', but I do think the season the players put in, the amount of hours they 'stand away' from overtime or promotion opportunities has been taken for granted far too long. There should be more appreciation shown in terms of expenses.''

Meanwhile the Leinster Council accepts that they have lost their "slot" for a possible replay of their SFC final in Croke Park on Saturday week after the Ulster Council fixed their Armagh/Tyrone replay for the same day in Dublin.

However, the Leinster Council Secretary Michael Delaney stressed yesterday that the last thing they wanted was to get into "a public spat" with their Ulster colleagues.

"When it was a draw, I presumed they would replay next Saturday,'' he said. "At the time I was thinking that I would come under pressure for tickets for the Leinster final with northern supporters coming down the day before to make a weekend out of it."

The Leinster Council will meet tomorrow night to review their options.

Asked if that "alternative" would be Saturday fortnight, he said that would create problems on two fronts, one in relation to the GAC plans for Croke Park on that weekend. More significantly, they had promised their losing finalists that they would have 13 days before they played in the qualifier series.