Farrell backs weaker counties merging

Gaelic Players’ Association chief executive Dessie Farrell has echoed Aidan O’Shea’s claim of last month that some of the weaker counties may have to amalgamate in order to keep pace with the modern games.

The Mayo man was forthright in his belief that the onset of Sky Sports’ involvement in televising live championship games was merely another step towards full professionalism and the long-established order based on county boundaries would be challenged.

Farrell wasn’t quite so forthright.

“Over the next decade it’ll be very interesting to see what does happen,” he said. “You would think that there could be grounds for an amalgamation of counties in certain areas. Now that would be red rag to a bull for a lot of people and ultimately you can’t impose anything on an individual county or a number of counties in that regard. It has to be of their own volition and there has to be an appetite to do that.

“You may get to a place where there isn’t one [amalgamation], even though logically and practically it might seem like the thing to do. Our games are unique and they thrive on that parochial nature and that’s why they’ve prospered for over 100 years now. It’ll be a difficult model to break down and, as I said, I’m not sure what the appetite will be in the future.”

Farrell was speaking in response to a question about the possibility that the GAA might consider layering the funding of counties based on the ability or otherwise of units at that level to attract their own independent levels of income.

Dublin has been the lightning rod in this given its successful on-field and off-field activities of late and Farrell’s U21s only added to the unease over the county’s growing power by annexing a third All-Ireland at the grade in five years last week.

The former Dublin fans’ favourite believes it is far too early to make a judgement call on that and warned there was actually a certain amount of “scaremongering” going on given the fact Dublin have still won just two Sam Maguires since 1995.

Nevertheless, the growing power of Dublin on the field has been matched by a flexing of the county’s commercial muscle and the increasing professionalisation of the strongest counties is steering an ongoing conversation on amateurism and professionalism.

Sky’s arrival on the scene has added to fears/hopes that players will sooner or later be recompensed with more than mileage expenses for their efforts, but there was a timely reminder yesterday that more is being done for them now than ever before.

The GPA and GAA announced a 10-year partnership with Glanbia at Croke Park, one which will see the two bodies receive seven cents for every litre of Avonmore’s new Protein Milk sold to spend on the GPA’s player development programme.

Farrell described this as the GPA’s most significant joint venture yet with the GAA.