GPA’s vital role now in public eye, says Earley

GPA president Dermot Earley considers Colm O’Rourke’s attack on the player body to have been a blessing in disguise.

Former Kildare midfielder Earley says it afforded the official players body the opportunity to outline the work they have been doing for inter-county footballers and hurlers in recent years.

“Colm asked a few questions, and the GPA responded. I think the outcome of that was that people who were made actually aware of the huge amount that they do,” said Earley.

“In a way, when you look at Colm’s article, I think the response was actually a good thing because it went out into the public domain the work the GPA do and not a lot of people were fully aware of that, including Colm.

“I think the response that Dessie gave to that was very substantial and highlighted all the programmes that we do.

“Even myself, it was a bit of a learning curve as well, to look at all the available facilities, courses and programmes.

“People are wondering what it is, sometimes, that we do and the whole role of it. You have to remember that there’s 2,100 members and there’s a huge amount of work that they do, and it’s important that the work continues.

“I know from myself that when you are finished with the game, you can be left in a kind of a hollow place.

“Your life revolved around playing football and when that’s finished, something else has to take its place. I’ve used the GPA, the programmes they have myself and hopefully a lot of people will.”

Although he didn’t play any part, Earley, 36, confirmed Sarsfields’s Kildare SFC final replay defeat to Moorefield was his last football bow. He fought back to earn a place in the panel after further injury. “That was it for me, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I would still love to play.”

Having gauged fellow players’ opinions on the inter-county/club season as well as those on the recent Opel GAA-GPA All Stars tour to Boston, he has found there are plenty of others who share his opinion that it has to be reduced.

“You start training before Christmas to peak in late September essentially, which is where you want to be.

“That’s extremely difficult and what ends up happening is that you try to peak then a number of times over the year, whether that be the league, the first year of the Championship, the provincial finals, and then for the All-Ireland series.

“It’s a really hard ask to do that and that’s one of the scientific conundrums that players and managers have. I think it’s maybe time they looked at shortening the season and that probably means a full restructuring of the Championship as well.

“They’ve all been mentioned in the past but looking at a league format for the Championship and then a championship type of finals structure: quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals.

“There’s a lot of people out there looking at various ways of tinkering the Championship but you probably have to sit down, look at the options and go for the best one from there.”