GPA warns of increase in player emigration

THE numbers of inter-county GAA players emigrating in search of work is set to spiral in the coming off-season, a leading GPA official warned yesterday.

The economic downturn has already seen a dramatic rise in the numbers of players joining GAA clubs abroad but the inter-county game has, so far, seemed to escape the worst of the latest brain drain to foreign shores.

While livelihoods are of most importance, the potential effect on playing standards are all too obvious. A player of Matty Forde’s calibre – a former footballer of the year – was out of work and mooting a move abroad late last year.