Cooney facing ‘ultimate test’

OF ONE BELIEF, the group which opposed the paying of grants to inter-county hurlers and footballers, has warned conceding to GPA demands for 5% of GAA income will fast-track the end of the Association.

GAA President Christy Cooney and Ard Stiúrthóir Páraic Duffy will address a press conference at Croke Park this morning outlining their response to the ratcheting up of pressure last week by the gaelic players organisation

Of One Belief founder Mark Conway said he took little satisfaction in telling Croke Park bosses ‘we told you so’ as they prepare for the stand-off with chief executive Dessie Farrell and the GPA’s 1,900 members. And he described the coming weeks and months as the ‘ultimate test’ of Cooney’s presidency.

Conway said last night: “If you look at our website from a couple of years ago, you can see in black and white that we warned that this day would come. I wish I was as good at predicting the Lotto numbers. Once our top people accepted the principle of the grants it was inevitable we would find ourselves at this point. Loath as I am to say it, ‘we told you so’.”

Conway is fearful that the matter may mark a watershed in the GAA’s 125 year history.

“The GPA want five percent but mark my words that will grow to 10%, to 15% to 20%. Who knows where it will end. If this is accepted what is to stop them from looking for their share of every aspect of GAA income?

“The knock could come to the door of the likes of Club Tyrone, wanting their share of their revenues. Then it could be the county committee looking for a slice of the money from gates. Eventually they will go to the clubs – then it is game over.’’

The Tyrone man laughed off claims that player welfare will suffer because of lack of funding either through grants or GAA revenues.

“I consider the term ‘Player Welfare’ to be an insulting statement. It suggests that something untoward has been happening to players, as if we need to set up a redress board to discuss what miseries the players have been put through. I object to the phrase. Last year in the Tyrone accounts last year it was revealed that almost £1.25m (€1.4m) went towards county teams, the majority of that on the senior football team. We are spending fortunes on elite players.

“Former Cork hurler Diarmuid O’Sullivan was talking at the weekend about possible match fees and that players deserve more for their efforts. He talked about the monies the GAA received from the opening of Croke Park to other sports and the players saw no benefits.

“The reality is that every county got a quarter of a million euro of that agreement – the problem is that leading GAA figures have been totally disingenuous on the whole thing. Once the grants were allowed, it began to create cracks in the whole dam against professionalism.’’

He added: “Down there (in the south) some of us here in the north are considered dinosaurs for our stance on certain issues like Rule 21 (to allow members of the security forces in Britain and Northern Ireland to play hurling and football) and the opening of Croke Park.

“I think it harmed us allowing soccer and rugby into Croke Park but life goes on and I accept the decisions that were made. But once we start playing players, we have opened a door that might never be closed.”

He also slammed the GAA’s response to the GPA’s press conference outlining their stance last week.

“We’ve seen GPA press conferences and their representatives on television, radio in the newspapers. We’ve read all the apologists backing the players in the past week. But the silence from Croke Park has been deafening. As an ordinary grassroots member of the GAA, I find their handling of the thing to be bitterly disappointing.”

He continued: “We are developing a £6.7m (€7.7m) new facility here in Tyrone. We have to raise over £5m (€5.7m) for that through various fundraising ventures. We do that of our own time, as volunteers of the GAA. Meanwhile the people at the top table of the GAA are taking us down a much different road.”

However Conway is confident Cooney, who took charge in April, can guide the GAA through this situation.

“I think so. Christy is only in as president but I have a huge regard and respect for him. This is Christy’s baptism of fire and perhaps his ultimate test. For me he has to state the reality, stand tall and not allow himself or the GAA be bullied. The idea that we should be beholden to an elite group of players is poisonous.”

Meanwhile Farrell is to appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs this afternoon. Farrell will be discussing the role and functions of the GPA. This meeting will afford members of the Committee the opportunity to question Farrell on the role of the GPA and its campaigns in relation to player welfare and player-related revenues.