Cooney hopeful of GPA agreement

GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney is hopeful that planned talks with the Gaelic Players Association can be successfully completed by the end of September.

The two organisations have yet to hold face-to-face talks to discuss a number of issues including official recognition for the players’ group and a system of continuing the intercounty grants payment scheme which looks destined to be slashed by government cuts. While reiterating that there is no question of his Association handing over a percentage of their commercial income, Cooney didn’t rule out the question of grant-aiding the players’ body.

Accepting that there is ‘a perceived gap’ between what the GPA wants by way of grant aid and the freedom to decide on how money should be spent, Cooney expressed the hope yesterday that the two sides would be able to get over their difficulties.

Interviewed on RTÉ Radio One yesterday, he said that until such time as they get down ‘to serious talking and negotiation they won’t know how wide that gap is.’

“I believe there is a genuineness among the players and among those leading the organisation to find a solution and I am sure we will.’’

Affirming that they had rejected the GPA demand for a 5% share of the GAA’s commercial income (which would amount to several million euro), Cooney said the players’ body is ‘well aware’ of their stand in this regard.

“We have to look at the Association in a broader way than just inter-county players.

“How could you commit to something like 5% when you don’t know what your returns are going to be.

“Every year we agree a return we give to our counties and that’s the way it works.

“I couldn’t tell you next year what sponsorship funding is going to come into the Association, I couldn’t tell you what our gate receipts are going to be. So how could I commit to a percentage of something I know doesn’t exist?’’

Pointing out that Association spending in the area of coaching and games development could be seriously affected if the suggestion from An Bord Snip to cut sports grants by 17% is accepted by the Government, Cooney stated: “if that happens, we would have a significant difficulty with the Sports Council with the money that would be available to us. And I’d have to say, what is our greater priority?’’

The GAA boss said he knew of no other organisation that would give money freely to another organisation – in this case ‘one that wants to be outside the Association’ – and have the freedom to decide how it should be spent.

“That is not logical. I’m sure they (GPA) would spend it in the best interests of their players, but it’s important that we would know and that we would have a say in that.

“You can’t have a situation where one wing of the organisation is spending it one way and another wing of the organisation is spending it another way. We need to work together in the best interests of the association, to determine where our funding would go.

“I have no difficulty in involving them to a greater degree, but we’re going to have to sit down and discuss that.”

Meanwhile GAA Director General Pauric Duffy has defended the disciplinary system which has cleared Cork’s John Miskella to play in next month’s All-Ireland final.

However, he has also advocated the introduction of match bans. The Ballincollig man received a yellow card after punching Tyrone’s Brian McGuigan in their All-Ireland semi-final but referee John Bannon declared he did not wish to revisit the incident when asked by the Central Competitions Control Committee.

“In fairness to the CCCC, the process is very clear and they clearly felt that it should be revisited,” said Duffy. “They asked the referee to look at the video and see if he was happy. That is the rule.

“Now, people might not like that decision but that is how the system works. We have to accept that.”