Fistful of dollars the lure as top handballers head for US

AS the GPA and the GAA are at loggerheads over the distribution of funding for players, a number of Ireland’s top handballers head to the US for a cash rich tournament.

Sources close to the negotiations between Croke Park top brass and the Players’ Association admit that the issue of handballers earning money in foreign tournaments has been highlighted on a number of occasions by the GPA in its efforts to secure the €5 million available for the government without damaging the GAA’s amateur status.

The US Open of Handball in California is a professional event run by the World of Pro Handball and boasts a prize fund of $83,000 (€60,000).