Prenty: Players will go same road as managers

One of the country’s leading full-time GAA officials has warned that players will be expected to be paid if payments to managers are sanctioned.

Connacht Council secretary John Prenty says players are struggling with the demands being placed on them at top flight level and that it is only a matter of time before ‘pay for play’ is introduced if managers are paid.

Prenty reiterates that the GAA have three options — continue with the current position and just ignore the situation; implement fully the existing rules on amateur status; or introduce a system of regulated payments to senior inter-county managers. Prenty, who makes his comments in a document which will go before the AGM of the Connacht Council next week, said the problem would not exist if current rules were implemented. He questions that even if a system is introduced to pay managers, he fears that some might not adhere to it in any event.